BY RAYMOND AFRICA and WENDELL VIGILIA
SEN. Panfilo Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III rejected the “no vaccine, no work” policy of the Inter Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) covering on-site employees and workers.
They said that while vaccines protect people from COVID-19, workers cannot be forced to get inoculated.
“May human rights issue ito, kasi katawan ng tao ito. But then kailangan din natin protektahan hindi lamang yung may katawan, kundi mga kasamahan niya (There are human rights issues here because it involves a person’s own body. But then, we need to protect not only the person himself but also his colleagues),” Lacson told the weekly Meet the Press online forum.
At the House of Representatives, Rep. Eric Pineda (PL, 1-Pacman), chair of the House committee on labor and employment, said his panel has written to the IATF, urging it to suspend Resolution Nos. 148-B and 149 which authorize the “no vaccine, no work” policy that took effect on December 1, pending further deliberation as the panel is set to meet on December 7 to discuss the resolutions.
“We need to think of the effect of these kinds of policies on our workers first,” Pineda said.
“In my opinion, these policies are discriminatory and hinder worker’s rights to choose whether they want to be vaccinated. Requiring a person to be vaccinated just so that they may be able to make a living is not right.”
Pineda also said most of the stakeholders present at the committee’s virtual meeting last Wednesday are against the IATF policy under IATF Resolution Nos. 148-B and 149.
“Even being fully vaccinated is no assurance against COVID-19. Nobody is really safe, whether they be vaccinated or not. The only advantage of being vaccinated is that they have lower chances of being infected at a severe or critical level. Another concern is the availability and roll out of the vaccine. Some workers are willing to be vaccinated but cannot get any schedule. What about them? They cannot return to work and it’s due to no fault of their own,” he said.
Pineda said if RT-PCR testing as a requisite to return to work for unvaccinated workers, the cost should not be shouldered by the worker or the employer but by the government.
“RT PCR testing is very expensive at around P2,500 per test, every two weeks, as required under the IATF resolutions. We cannot put that burden on the employees, who may end up not having anything left from their salary at the end of the month,” he said.
Pineda said a more viable option is to use antigen testing since it is cheaper at around P250 and still effective.
“Would the worker be allowed to report to work before the results are out? Antigen tests can be done in less than 20 minutes. It is what we use here in Congress, we all get tested once a week. If it’s good enough for us, then maybe it should be good enough for everyone else,” he said.
Lacson, who is seeking the presidency in next year’s elections, encouraged people to be “be responsible enough” and get vaccinated.
Sotto, Lacson’s running mate in the 2022 polls, said he is not in favor of the no vaccine, no work rule. He said people should be convinced, and not forced, to get vaccinated.
Sotto said he and Lacson will push for free COVID-19 testing to convince people to have themselves tested for the virus, If elected in next year’s elections.
The IATF resolutions requires all establishments and employees in the public and private sectors to mandate eligible employees tasked to do on-site work to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Eligible employees who remain unvaccinated may not be terminated solely by reason thereof. However, they shall be required to undergo RT-PCR tests regularly at their own expense for purposes of on-site work. Provided that, antigen tests may be resorted to when RT-PCR capacity is insufficient or not immediately available,” the IATF resolution said.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines on Wednesday asked the IATF to recall or modify the policy and consult workers and business owners before re-implementing it.
