Workers are exempted from ‘no vax, no ride’ policy

MANILA, Philippines, January 19 ------ Workers with proper identification are exempted from the “no vaccination, no ride” policy of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in Metro Manila, the epicenter of the current surge in COVID-19 cases, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) said on Tuesday.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III made the clarification following the uproar over the policy, which several lawmakers had criticized, saying that the lack of access to vaccination had resulted in many people being unduly deprived of essential services, such as public transportation. Speaking at a briefing held by Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, Bello said unvaccinated employees working on-site had “always been exempted” from this rule.

Workers are already being required by their employers to regularly submit negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) COVID-19 test results, at their expense. “Our workers are exempted because they are rendering essential services,” Bello said. “If you stop them, how can our businesses flourish? If there are no businesses, there’s no economy.” The secretary said unvaccinated employees only need to show their identification cards so they would not be denied use of public transportation. He said Dole would be informing the implementing agencies about this exemption, “especially for our workers who are already having a hard time working and yet they are still being given a hard time going to work.”

Source: inquirer.net