THOUSANDS of Cebu City health workers who served during the pandemic remain unpaid their Health Emergency Allowance (HEA), prompting renewed scrutiny over delays in its release and questions on which city health offices were affected.
Cebu City Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover Jr. has called for urgent action and accountability over the long-delayed release of the HEA for nearly 4,000 city health workers, describing the years-long delay as an administrative failure.
In his privilege speech during the City Council’s regular session on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, Alcover revealed that former pandemic frontliners, including nurses, barangay health workers, midwives, medical technologists, encoders, disaster responders, and support staff, have approached his office in recent weeks, complaining that they have not received a single peso of their HEA for their service in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Each worker was entitled to a fixed monthly HEA based on their assignment: P3,000 for office-based personnel, P6,000 for field workers, and P9,000 for those deployed in hospitals and high-exposure areas.
He said these workers risked their lives at a time when vaccines were not yet available, infection rates were at their highest, and fear and uncertainty were widespread.
“Yet up to this day, wa gihapon sila makadawat sa Health Emergency Allowance nga gisaad sa balaod,” Alcover said.
Under Republic Act 11494 (Bayanihan 2) and Republic Act 11712 (Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for Health Care Workers Act), the national government must provide a monthly HEA to all public and private health workers based on their level of risk exposure.
The benefits are retroactive to 2021.
Alcover, in a separate interview with SunStar Cebu, stressed that these funds have long been allocated by the national government.
The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH 7) downloaded the amount to implement local governments, including Cebu City.
He added that the City Treasurer’s Office records reportedly show that Cebu City already received P431,324,718 intended for HEA disbursement.
Alcover detailed how the problems began, several pandemic-era offices, including Project NOAH — “Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards, Cebu City Quarantine Center (CCQC), City Health Department (CHD), Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO), Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) and Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
Offices like NOAH, CCQC, and EOC, were disbanded after the pandemic.
He explained that many personnel had already resigned or moved on, leaving no focal persons to consolidate and track the required lists of qualified recipients.
As a result, submissions of names from city offices to the DOH were often late or incomplete. Although several lists went through inclusion and exclusion procedures, some qualified workers still remain missing from the final records.
“This issue has been going on for a very long time. The problem is that our offices submitted their lists to the DOH late. Many offices only existed during the pandemic and have since disappeared, which is why the processing became disorganized,” Alcover said.
He said many workers later discovered they were not included in the validated list despite working for up to 20 months.
He said that there were supposed to be almost 4,000 recipients, but some were never included in the list. He explained that he advised them to return to their original offices so their work could be verified and confirmed as legitimate.
Despite DOH and the city conducting inclusion–exclusion proceedings, Alcover said some offices are still demanding additional requirements such as office clearances, service records, long computation sheets, and signed undertakings.
He objected to this, saying these documents should no longer be required because the workers have already been validated.
He said that if a person is already included in the list, all they need to do is bring their ID, and no additional requirements are necessary. Adding more requirements would only cause further delays.
During the session, Councilor Mikel Rama delivered an extensive amendment to Alcover’s motion, noting that many claimants had already complied with all requirements, including quitclaims, implying that the city-level processes should have been completed by now.
Rama cited national announcements that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had already released P6.767 billion nationwide for HEA allocations to LGUs, including Cebu City.
The release reportedly occurred in November 2025.
He said the delay in Cebu City contradicts the intent of RA 11712, adding that the processing of the HEA payroll was supposedly only awaiting activation of the Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) system.
Rama’s amendment, strongly urged the Office of the Mayor, CHD, City Accounting Office, City Treasurer’s Office, and MICS to immediately process and effect the full and complete disbursement of the validated HEA to all eligible personnel, including barangay health workers, on or before Dec. 24.
Councilor Sisinio Andales asked when the national government had downloaded the HEA funds to DOH-7. Alcover admitted he could not answer yet, which is why he is requesting an executive session.
Rama responded that DBM had publicly announced the release in November, citing national news reports.
Satisfied with the clarification, Andales expressed support for the amended motion and added his own request that city offices resolve and facilitate the timely processing of the HEA within the agreed timeline.
Councilor Harry Eran also manifested support for the positions of both Rama and Alcover.
Alcover said the administrative difficulties in consolidating lists and tracking qualified workers stem from the absence of a designated focal person under the previous administration.
“This was truly a failure of the city’s leadership at that time. No one was appointed as a focal person to focus on this. Once it became known that the HEA existed, there should have been someone in charge dedicated to it,” he said.
During the pandemic it was the administration of former mayor Michael Rama.
Alcover said the problem only came to his attention recently because he initially thought the HEA was funded locally.
City Accounting and the City Treasurer’s Office have reportedly committed to releasing the HEA by December 24. However, Alcover expressed concern because the actual payroll has not yet been received despite earlier promises.
“This is why I have a headache over this. The funds are already there, and the list is ready. But until now, it still hasn’t been released,” he said.
Processing is ongoing, but Alcover said the city must present a clear plan on how to distribute the funds within the next few weeks, especially with thousands still unlisted or lacking validation.
The goal is to determine the exact amount received, how much remains unutilized, the status of the payroll, and the steps needed to ensure a smooth and lawful disbursement.
“This is not just delayed paperwork. This is justice. It is only right that this government fulfills its obligation to them,” he said. (CAV)