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AS the acknowledged drivers of the Philippine
economy, overseas Filipino workers need all the tender loving care
(referred to in some trendy quarters as TLC) they can get. And
Senator Loren Legarda believes that taking care of the health of
these new Filipino heroes is an important step in that direction.
So Legarda has sought the help of
her colleagues in Congress to expedite the passage of new
legislation that would install a new, modern and fully equipped
medical center for migrant Filipino workers and their dependents.
Under Senate Bill 938 authored by
Legarda herself, the special hospital would be established by the
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). Under the proposal
the OWWA Migrant Workers Hospital would provide comprehensive
health-care services to all migrant workers who are OWWA
contributors, as well as their legal dependents; supplement the
existing package of services under the Medical Care Program so as to
include preventive, promotive, diagnostic, curative and
rehabilitative programs; conduct medical examinations to ensure the
physical and mental capabilities of all would-be overseas contract
workers duly covered by an approved job order.
The proposed hospital will also
install a system that would effectively monitor the condition of
patients, and generate relevant information in aid of policy
formulation.
Legarda’s bill seeks to give
more meaning to the constitutional mandate for the state to afford
full protection to labor, both local and overseas.
More than 3,000 Filipinos leave
the country every day to work abroad, according to the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration. Legarda lamented that a growing
number of migrant workers, mostly women, return home “badly
battered and bruised,” and requiring adequate care, treatment and
rehabilitation in a suitable facility.
Still batting on the health
front, Senator Legarda is also seeking legislative support to
establish a special national hospital for the country’s public as
well as private school teachers and their dependents.
Under the bill, again authored by
Legarda herself, the new Philippine Teachers’ Hospital would be
installed in Metro Manila, to cater exclusively to the health care
needs of teachers, school non-teaching staff and their dependents.
In addition, every state-run
regional hospital nationwide would be mandated to build a
teachers’ ward, each with an initial capacity of at least 50 beds,
to provide medical care and treatment to teachers and their
dependents residing outside Metro Manila.
The bill proposes to appropriate
an initial P300 million for the new hospital, which would provide
comprehensive health care services to all teachers, school
non-teaching staff and their legal dependents and reinforce the
existing package of services under the Medical Care Program so as to
include preventive, promotive, diagnostic, curative and
rehabilitative programs.
Legarda intends to give more
meaning to the constitutional mandate for the state to afford full
protection to labor, including schoolteachers who comprise the
country’s single largest group of professionals. The public school
system alone has a total staff of 517,515, including 471,837
teachers.
Legarda is author of two other
bills seeking to protect and advance the welfare of teachers. She
earlier introduced a bill that proposes to nearly double the minimum
basic pay for public school teachers.
Under the bill, the entry-level
pay classification for teachers in public elementary and high
schools would be raised from Salary Grade 10 to 19. This means their
initial monthly pay would be jacked up to a new range of P18,471 to
P21,995. The current range is P10,933 to P12,997.
Legarda also earlier introduced a
separate bill that seeks to totally empower public school teachers
and non-teaching staff to freely bargain for bigger pay and
benefits.
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