The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has sought for the inclusion in A4 priority vaccination category workers in ecozones.
In a letter to Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., head of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) dated April 23, 2021, PEZA director-general Charito Plazasaid ecozone and industry workers are considered frontline workers as they continue working regardless of quarantine levels to ensure their unhampered contribution to the global supply chain.
“In phases of the community quarantines… the BPO (business process outsourcing) and export-oriented sectors were allowed to operate as a measure to cushion the adverse impact of COVID-19 (new coronavirus disease 2019) to the economy, subject to strict compliance to health and quarantine protocols,” Plaza said.
PEZA said during the modified enhanced community quarantine between April 12 and 16, 2021, ecozones have reported 90 percent or 2,701 companies were operating nationwide with 1.19 million employees working under various work schemes.
Per sector, the information technology-BPO industry reported 84 percent of companies were operational while in the manufacturing sector, 94 percent were operational.
PEZA also cited in its letter to the National Task Force chief implementer various memoranda released by the Department of Trade and Industry which further emphasized the importance of locators and ecozone workers during the pandemic and to better prepare the country for post-COVID economic rebound.
Under the government’s vaccination program priority list, the A4 category is the group of frontline personnel in essential sectors, which has now been expanded to include additional sectors like the transportation workers, market vendors, religious leaders, overseas Filipino workers and members of the press.
PEZA is also helping facilitate the locators’ purchase of vaccines on a per ecozone basis for ease of administration and subject to strict compliance with COVID vaccination protocols. – Irma Isip
