THE consolidated Senate Bill No. 2720 and House Bill No. 6411, or the “act providing for a comprehensive nursing law towards quality health care system,” was vetoed by President Benigno Aquino III principally because of the wage distortion it would cause.
In his veto message, President Aquino explained that while the government recognizes the objective of the bill to promote the well-being of the country’s nurses, it cannot support the bill in its present form because of its dire financial consequences.
“To grant the proposed increase will not only undermine the existing salary structure of medical and health care practitioners, but will also cause wage distortion not only among health professionals but also among other professionals in government,” he said.
President Aquino further explained that granting the increase will place the salaries of nurses over and above their other similarly situated counterparts, such as optometrists and dentists.
“Such preferential treatment in favor of nurses over and above other health professionals in the government service appears unconscionable and violative of the equal protection clause enshrined in the Philippine Constitution,” he said.
I go by the President’s decision, because indeed the increase in the entry level of nurses from Salary Grade 11 (P19,077) to Salary Grade 15 (P26,192) would make it closer to the entry level of a medical officer (government physician) which is Salary Grade 16 (P28,417).
Apparently there’s going to be just one salary grade between the two, and a P2,225 difference in their basic salaries at first tranche of Executive Order No. 201, series of 2016.
I heard an officer of a nurses’ organization say over the radio that if the bill was approved and salaries of nurses were increased, the government could just correct the wage distortion over time.
This, of course, is easier said than done.
There is no question about the salaries of nurses as being too low for such a hazardous job, even those of government physicians and health professionals in government.
The wage distortion is one reason why I have reservations about the pledge of the Duterte administration to increase the salaries of PNP and AFP personnel.
During the campaign period, the proposed increase was from P75,000 to P100,000.
Later on, perhaps because they realized the initial figures were unrealistic, the wage proposal went down to P50,000 for the rookies, inclusive of allowances.
But I shall reserve this topic for another article. BEEN THERE DONE THAT/JOSEPHINE CODILLA
