Antique explains PHP 900 HEA document issue

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

The Antique provincial government denied allegations that workers were required to pay PHP 900 to receive their Health Emergency Allowance (HEA), clarifying that the amount is a prescribed documentary charge under the province’s revenue code.

In separate statements, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and the Office of the Provincial Accountant said the PHP 900 amount circulating on social media refers to a standard charge for document requests and not to a payment being collected by the Accounting Office for HEA release.

Both offices issued the clarification after posts claimed that workers were being required to pay PHP 900 to obtain their Daily Time Records, which are needed for HEA processing.

The PDRRMO said it had requested scanned DTRs covering July to December 2021, but the records were originally submitted manually and hard copies are no longer available.

To address the missing records, the office sought the assistance of the Provincial Accountant to locate and retrieve the documents.

The PDRRMO said the retrieval process may require overtime work because of the volume of transactions and the need to backtrack records from the COVID-19 period.

The office said any overtime work must be covered by a valid memorandum order.

“The amount […] is not a fee imposed or collected by the Accounting Office. This amount represents a prescribed charge under the provisions of the New Revenue Code of the Provincial Government of Antique for requests involving certifications and/or official documents from the concerned office,” the PDRRMO said.

The PDRRMO said it facilitated the advance collection of the amount as an administrative measure to speed up document processing and avoid further delays in the release of the allowance.

It added that any amount collected will be remitted to the Provincial Treasurer once the requested documents are retrieved.

The Office of the Provincial Accountant stressed that it does not collect payments from individuals and only keeps records for accounting and audit purposes.

It also rejected claims that the PHP 900 charge includes overtime pay for personnel retrieving the records, calling the allegation “entirely false and without basis.”

“Overtime pay is not part of any such collection, as it is charged against the authorized Overtime and Night Pay budget of the concerned office, in accordance with applicable budgeting and accounting rules and regulations,” it added.

The office said retrieval of DTRs requires a formal memorandum order and cannot be accommodated during regular office hours because of the volume of transactions.

On the issue of quitclaims, the Accountant’s Office said HEA beneficiaries are required to sign them under the memorandum of agreement between the Department of Health-Western Visayas and the provincial government.

The office said the requirement is intended to ensure that beneficiaries return any excess payments and to prevent duplicate claims.

The clarification comes amid continued public scrutiny over the processing of pandemic-related benefits for health workers and other eligible personnel.

The Health Emergency Allowance was granted to qualified workers for service rendered during the COVID-19 pandemic, making supporting records such as DTRs and liquidation documents critical to validating claims and preventing overpayment.