EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
First Regular Session
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SENATE
S. B. NO. 1455
20 APR 27 P12 37
Introduced by SENATOR JOEL VILLANUEVA
AN ACT GRANTING HAZARD PAY TO COVERED EMPLOYEES OF 
THE GOVERNMENT AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR
EXPLANATORY NOTE
COVID-19 was declared by the World Health Organization as a public health 
emergency of international concern as early as January 30, 2020. As of 4:00 PM of 
April 12, 2020, a total of 4,648 patients in the Philippines have been confirmed 
positive with COVID-19,1 and as of April 13, it has also infected 1,850,220 persons in 
185 countries all over the world.2
Meanwhile, due to the increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 patients in 
the Philippines, the country was placed under enhanced community quarantine as of 
midnight of March 17, 2020. However, even while most people are advised to stay 
home, several workers in the government are required to go to work to ensure that 
government services continue. But despite the increased risk to their lives, no 
appropriate additional compensation is given to them.
This bill seeks to recognize the hard work and the invaluable service rendered 
by our government workers by mandating the payment of hazard pay to frontline all 
government workers, in cases where they are assigned to areas, such as, but not 
limited, to hazardous, isolated and inaccessible environment, x-ray units, institutions 
that care for the users of mental health services, places that are subject to 
depredation by criminal elements, plants and installation of the arsenal, aboard 
aircrafts and watercrafts in crossing bodies of water and other similar areas.
1 COVlD-19 Case Tracker. DOH. Available at https://www.doh.gov.ph/covid-19/case-tracker (date last accessed:
April 13, 2020). 
A
2 Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases. Johns Hopkins University and Medicine. Available at
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html (date last accessed: April 13, 2020).


Given the extraordinary and invaluable service of these workers in critical 
times, such as what we are facing today with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is just and 
right that we give them proper benefits.
Thus, the immediate passage of this bill is earnestly sought.
SENATOR JOEL VILLANUEVA


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EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
First Regular Session
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of iljf £»rrrrtat'j>
SENATE
RECc,.. DS'
S. B. NO.
Introduced by SENATOR JOEL VILLANUEVA
AN ACT GRANTING HAZARD PAY TO COVERED EMPLOYEES OF 
THE GOVERNMENT AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Phiiippines in 
Congress assembied:
SECTION. 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Hazard Pay for 
Government Employees Act.”
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is hereby declared the policy of the State to 
protect and promote the welfare of public servants by providing them with additional 
compensation taking into account the nature of their responsibilities and exposure to 
hazard or possible dangers attendant to the position they are occupying and the 
functions of their office.
SEC. 3. Coverage. - The benefits provided under this Act are payable to all 
government employees who are exposed to the conditions identified in Section 4 of 
this Act, regardless of their status, nature of their appointment (whether casual, 
temporary, contract of service (institutional or otherwise), or job order), or place of 
work, whether in medical or non-medical offices; Provided, That government 
employees currently receiving hazard pay under other laws, rules or regulations shall 
only be entitled to one such pay or benefit, whichever is higher.
SEC. 4. Hazard Pay. - All employees of the Government shall be paid hazard pay 
equivalent to at least twenty five percent (25%) of the monthly basic salary of the 
employee concerned when stationed or assigned to work as frontline workers in or 
under the following circumstances or conditions:
(a) When a state of calamity or emergency or a public health emergency, as 
defined under Republic Act No. 11332, othenwise known as the Mandatory


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Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern, 
has been declared;
(b) 
Hazardous or less hazardous areas, as may be declared by the Secretary of 
National Defense and other appropriate agencies;
(c) 
Difficult areas or hardship posts characterized by distance, inconvenience of 
travel due to bad roads and conditions of the terrain, isolation, inaccessibility 
and extreme weather conditions;
(d) 
X-ray units, clinics, laboratories, sanitaria, leprosaria, observation posts and 
other similar stations which offer risks to health and safety due to exposure to 
radiation, contagious diseases and volcanic activity;
(e) 
Institutions or facilities that tend or care for persons with mental health 
conditions;
(f) 
Places that are subject to depredation by criminal elements as those in prison 
reservations and penal colonies without adequate police protection;
(g) 
Plants and installations of the arsenal;
(h) 
Aboard aircraft and watercraft in crossing bodies of water; and
(i) 
Other similar work conditions which the Department of Budget and 
Management (DBM), in consultation with the Office of Civil Defense and the 
Civil Service Commission and other appropriate agencies, shall consider 
hazardous on the basis of exposure to environment, health and social risks.
SEC. 5. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within sixty (60) days from the 
effectivity of this Act, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in coordination with the 
Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and 
other relative government offices, shall formulate the rules and regulations to 
effectively implement the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 6. Appropriations. - The amount necessary for the effective implementation 
of this Act shall be charged against the appropriations of government agencies 
where the covered government employees are employed. Thereafter, the funds for 
the effective implementation of this Act shall be included in the General 
Appropriations Act (GAA).
SEC. 7. Separability Clause. - Any portion or provisions of this Act that may be 
declared unconstitutional or invalid shall not have the effect of nullifying other 
portions and provisions hereof as long as such remaining portions or provisions can 
still subsist and be given effect in their entirety.
SEC. 8. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations and 
administrative regulations, or any parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this 
Act are hereby revoked, repealed or modified accordingly.


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SEC. 9. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation or in the Official 
Gazette.
Approved,