Workers get over P10-M settlement from defunct hospital in Bicol

• Source:https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1025643
• Sunday, August 11, 2019

By Ernesto A. Delgado and Johana Vi Gasga (PIA5/DOLE5)

LEGAZPI CITY (PIA) — Better days lie ahead for 100 former workers of a hospital that went out of business in 2017 with their defunct employer committing to pay the remainder of their back wages and separation benefits amounting to more than P10.9 million.

The workers reached the settlement with Sto. Niño Hospital in Daet, Camarines Norte after the intervention of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) which stepped in when the privately-run hospital shut down on September 3, 2017 due to financial trouble.

“I am thankful to DOLE for facilitating the settlement,” said midwife Edna Zamudio, who had been with the hospital since it started operation in 1978.

“We have been given what was due us in return for our loyalty and service to the company for a very long time,” she said of the settlement which consists of P10,903,082.69 cash.

Zamudio stood to receive the highest package amounting to P467,548.

Johana Vi Gasga, DOLE regional information officer, said the settlement agreement requires Sto. Niño Hospital to pay its displaced workers back wages and separation benefits in five installments.

Gasga said the first three tranches were given to the workers on December 16, 2017; April 30, 2018; and June 13, 2019.

For the remaining tranches, the hospital issued postdated checks which will become due on December 13, 2019 and June 13, 2020, she added.

Lawyer Alvin Villamor, DOLE director for Bicol, said his office dispatched a mediation team after the displaced workers sought their assistance in securing their separation pay.

Villamor said he activated the agency’s quick-response team to evaluate the hospital’s compliance with labor laws to protect the workers’ right to benefits once displaced from their jobs.

“This is a collaborative effort—not only of the office. We commend the employer for assuming obligation and not abandoning the workers who had served them all through good and bad times,” he said.

Lawyer Joan Noya-Nidua, who mediated the agreement, said the settlement was an instance, in which the balancing of the workers’ rights and the management’s cause were taken into consideration.

“With such huge amount involved, extracting its fulfillment in the shortest time possible is a challenge the office has hurdled to ensure that the workers’ rightful claims will be given to them,” Nidua said.