Health workers in Dumaguete City won their fight to get their dues after the Regional Trial Court ruled in their favor and ordered Mayor Agustin Perdices and the Sangguniang Panlungsod to pay their subsistence and laundry allowances retroactive from March 2002.

The order came following hearings on the special civil action, mandamus, and damages complaint the health workers filed against Perdices and the members of the City Council.

Judge Araceli Alafriz of the RTC in her five-page ruling on Jan. 2, said as city government appointees, the health workers were entitled to government-mandated allowances.

"They were appointed to their present position by the appointing power in the local government unit, in their case, the city mayor," Alafriz said.

Moreover, she said, the workers are covered by Republic Act No. 7305, or the Magna Carta for Public Health.

Alafriz clarified that all appointments in local government units whether permanent, temporary or casual must be approved by the Civil Service Commission and that, since they were already employed, the health workers were presumed to have met the qualification standards.

The judge said under the Magna Carta, the normal hours of work of any public health worker must not exceed eight hours a day or 48 hours a week.

She said that no matter how the law was interpreted, the fact remains that the health workers are entitled to subsistence allowance for those days when they rendered actual work.

Even before the RTC ruling, former Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit had recommended to Mayor Perdices to pay the health workers' subsistence and laundry allowance, saying that RA 7305 covers both organic and devolved health workers.

The Department of Budget and Management had also reminded the mayor that mandatory benefits under RA 7305 must be given priority over non-mandatory personnel services.*

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