Low Income for Frontliners

Yna Del Rosario

This year was undoubtedly unexpected and certain calamities came out of nowhere without a warning. One of the things that we did not expect is the arrival of the Coronavirus which alarmed the world for the mere fact that we still haven’t found a cure yet on such a deadly disease. Medical staff are there to help ease the panic and to ensure that the virus would not spread even longer by risking their own lives for the sake of treating others is admirable yet the low income that they receive was put on the spotlight.

A survey from Publicus Asia said that 97.6% of the 1,000 residents who participated in the online survey approved of “Providing frontline medical service people with additional pay” which was conducted on April 2-6 of 2020. It shows that most of the Filipino people want to make sure that all medical personnel are actually receiving a better pay for voluntarily exposing themselves to a virus that is death-dealing. Front liners in hospitals are not getting enough protection from the lack of resources to help them in this pandemic however certain volunteers from different companies are showing their patriotism by giving them free protective medical gears and equipment, free meals to get them through the day and some even offer free transportation to help the medical staffs in getting to their respective hospitals.

Aside from that, medical staff are not the only ones who are battling this pandemic, there are retail workers from groceries, law enforcements like the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), services from banks, food establishments and delivery services are considered as a part of the front liners. At a tough time like this, these people ensure that our basic necessities are met and that peace and order is present in our environment.

Altogether, we could agree that our front liners deserve nothing but the best support and assistance while they are fighting to help save lives while their own health is in danger. Being able to provide them their needs and even giving them an increased income can be an amendment for the trouble they are going through thus help them in pushing harder trying to defeat a virus that is critical, unanticipated, and deadly.