Legarda bats for magna carta to secure pay, benefits, and rights of barangay health workers

Senator Loren Legarda renewed her call for the swift passage of the Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers (BHWs), which seeks long-overdue recognition, protection, and dignity of BHWs.

During the Senate plenary session on February 25, Legarda co-sponsored the measure, pressing for stronger legal and financial support for BHWs, the frontliners of grassroots health care delivery across the country.

“I rise today to sponsor a measure that seeks to give long-overdue recognition, protection, and dignity to the individuals who form the most accessible arm of our public health system,” Legarda said.

“Barangay health workers are the first to knock on doors, the first to identify health risks, the first to guide mothers and children, and the first to respond to emergencies in communities where formal health facilities remain distant or limited,” she added.

The proposed Magna Carta strengthens recruitment, training, certification, and retention of BHWs, while mandating structured support from LGUs and national agencies.

Legarda recalled that she first filed the measure in 2009 during the 14th Congress, and has consistently refiled it in every Congress for the past 17 years.

“This vital workforce deserves a law that recognizes both its history and its future. It is for this reason that as early as the 14th Congress, I filed a Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers, grounded in the belief that Universal Health Care cannot succeed without those who make health care work at the grassroots. I refiled the measure in the succeeding Congresses because the need has only grown more urgent,” she stressed.

Under the proposed Magna Carta, volunteer BHWs will receive a minimum monthly honorarium of ₱3,000, along with transportation and subsistence allowances, hazard pay, insurance coverage, legal assistance, and year-end benefits. The bill mandates the inclusion of BHW plantilla positions in LGUs staffing structures and establishes a National BHW Information System to support planning and equitable deployment.

The bill provides deployment subsidies for low-income municipalities to sustain adequate numbers of health workers. Certified BHWs with at least five years of service will be granted sub-professional civil service eligibility and may credit their years of service toward retirement if later employed as regular government employees.

“In every community I visit, I meet BHWs who serve out of commitment rather than compensation. They monitor pregnancies, track immunizations, care for the elderly, and mobilize whole barangays in times of disaster. Yet many continue to work without clear tenure, standardized benefits, or adequate institutional support,” Legarda said.

The proposed Magna Carta also prohibits discrimination and partisan political activity, while declaring April 7 as Barangay Health Workers Day and the week in which it falls as BHW Week. Accountability provisions penalize public officials who fail to implement the law, with DOH and DILG mandated to submit annual accomplishment reports to the President and Congress.

Legarda concluded by urging her colleagues to move decisively on the measure, emphasizing that true progress in health care begins with protecting those who serve at its foundation. (30)

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Legarda isinusulong ang magna carta para sa tiyak na sahod, benepisyo, at karapatan ng barangay health workers

Muling nanawagan si Senadora Loren Legarda para sa agarang pagpasa ng Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers (BHWs), na naglalayong magbigay ng matagal nang hinihintay na pagkilala, proteksyon, at dignidad sa mga BHWs.

Sa plenary session ng Senado noong Pebrero 25, co-sponsor si Legarda ng panukala at iginiit ang mas matibay na legal at pinansyal na suporta para sa mga BHW, na siyang frontliners ng serbisyong pangkalusugan sa mga pamayanan sa buong bansa.

“I rise today to sponsor a measure that seeks to give long-overdue recognition, protection, and dignity to the individuals who form the most accessible arm of our public health system,” ani Legarda.

“Barangay health workers are the first to knock on doors, the first to identify health risks, the first to guide mothers and children, and the first to respond to emergencies in communities where formal health facilities remain distant or limited,” dagdag pa niya.

Pinalalakas ng panukalang Magna Carta ang recruitment, training, certification, at retention ng mga BHW, habang inaatasan ang mga LGU at pambansang ahensya na magbigay ng istrukturadong suporta.

Inalala ni Legarda na unang niyang inihain ang panukala noong 2009 sa ika-14 na Kongreso, at patuloy itong nire-refile sa bawat Kongreso sa nakalipas na 17 taon.

“This vital workforce deserves a law that recognizes both its history and its future. It is for this reason that as early as the 14th Congress, I filed a Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers, grounded in the belief that Universal Health Care cannot succeed without those who make health care work at the grassroots. I refiled the measure in the succeeding Congresses because the need has only grown more urgent,” binigyang-diin niya.

Sa ilalim ng panukalang Magna Carta, makatatanggap ang mga volunteer BHW ng minimum na buwanang honorarium na ₱3,000, kasama ang transportation at subsistence allowances, hazard pay, insurance coverage, legal assistance, at year-end benefits. Inaatasan din ng panukala ang pagkakaroon ng plantilla positions para sa BHW sa staffing structures ng LGU at pagtatatag ng National BHW Information System para sa mas maayos na pagpaplano at patas na deployment.

Naglalaan din ang panukala ng deployment subsidies para sa mga low-income municipalities upang matiyak ang sapat na bilang ng health workers. Ang mga certified BHW na may hindi bababa sa limang taon ng serbisyo ay bibigyan ng sub-professional civil service eligibility at maaaring ma-credit ang kanilang taon ng serbisyo para sa retirement kung sila ay magiging regular na empleyado ng gobyerno.

“In every community I visit, I meet BHWs who serve out of commitment rather than compensation. They monitor pregnancies, track immunizations, care for the elderly, and mobilize whole barangays in times of disaster. Yet many continue to work without clear tenure, standardized benefits, or adequate institutional support,” ani Legarda.

Ipinagbabawal din ng panukalang Magna Carta ang diskriminasyon at partisan political activity, habang idinedeklara ang Abril 7 bilang Barangay Health Workers Day at ang linggong saklaw nito bilang BHW Week. May mga probisyon din para sa pananagutan na magpaparusa sa mga opisyal ng gobyerno na hindi magpapatupad ng batas, at inaatasan ang DOH at DILG na magsumite ng taunang accomplishment reports sa Pangulo at sa Kongreso.

Sa kanyang pagtatapos, muling nanawagan si Legarda sa mga kapwa senador na agad na kumilos sa panukala, kasabay ng kanyang diin na ang tunay na pag-unlad sa serbisyong pangkalusugan ay nakasalalay sa proteksyon ng mga barangay health workers na nagsisilbing haligi ng ating mga pamayanan. (30)