City eases HEA requirements

Thousands of health workers are expected to have a merrier Christmas this year as the Cebu City government finally eased the requirements for claiming the long-delayed Health Emergency Allowance (HEA), a benefit promised during the COVID-19 pandemic, but stalled for years by bureaucratic hurdles.

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City Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover Jr. announced this development after an executive session late last week.

Alcover said the Office of the City Accountant will no longer demand multiple clearances such as office certification, accounting clearance, service records, and undertakings, as requirements for the claims.

Instead, workers already verified by the Department of Health (DOH) need only to present their proper identification cards at the City Treasurer's Office once payrolls are processed.

The HEA, funded by the national government, was designed to compensate frontliners for their exposure during the pandemic, with amounts varying according to job description and risk level.

In Cebu City, however, distribution was bogged down by administrative bottlenecks. While the DOH had already conducted its own inclusion and exclusion process to determine qualified beneficiaries, the city accountant's office accordingly imposed additional requirements, creating confusion and prolonging the wait.