Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 9) — Four companies in Luzon have reportedly demanded their employees to show proof of vaccination before they can enter the workplace, Kilusang Mayo Uno said.
Citing complaints received from construction workers and security guards, two of the employers are based in Metro Manila, while the others are in Bulacan and Bataan.
While it has not received such reports so far, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) stressed anew that vaccination against COVID-19 cannot be made a requirement to land or keep a job.
“There is no legal basis for the employers to compel their workers to be vaccinated… especially so na kulang pa ang ating supply ng vaccine [given that vaccine supply is still lacking],” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said during a virtual press briefing.
Labor Assistant Secretary Nikki Tutay said there are no penalties set under existing DOLE guidelines for companies that will require the vaccination of its workers.
For Bello, there’s another approach to get firms to comply. The first step is to ask the employer to let an unvaccinated worker enter the workplace through a compliance order.
“Kung sabihin niyang ayaw niya [If he refuses], then we will issue an order directing the employer to allow the employee to report. ‘Pag hindi [If not], we will consider the employee as having reported to the office and therefore be entitled to the payment of his salary,” the Labor chief said.
Even the government has not made vaccination mandatory to Filipinos, although it is highly encouraged to protect people from severe sickness and death especially with the presence due of the more infectious COVID-19 Delta variant.
The Employers Confederation of the Philippines added that mandating vaccine doses is not an accepted practice among member companies.
“Ang official policy namin, hindi pwede ‘yan. Unang-una, ang problema ngayon ay kulang ang vaccine –– maraming di mava-vaccine, paano mong hindi papapasukin ‘yun?,” he told CNN Philippines.
[Translation: Our official policy is that’s not allowed. First of all, our problem is the supply –– many are unable to get the vaccine, how will you survive if you don’t let them report to work?]
Bello added that a law must be passed to make vaccinations a requirement for all Filipinos.
Only 11.4 million Filipinos are fully vaccinated as of Aug. 8 while over 13 million have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
The country has secured 38.6 million vaccine doses, against the target of vaccinating 70 million people for herd immunity.
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