The president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) expressed his disapproval over the termination of workers who are not yet vaccinated against COVID-19.
Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Jr. told DZRH in an interview that the government should not be punishing unvaccinated workers when the rollout of the jabs has been slow.
"Hindi ako pabor dun sa gagawing compulsary itong pagbabakuna at mawawalan ng hanapbuhay o kita ang tao," he told DZRH.
(I am not in favor of making vaccines compulsory and then taking away sources of income for people.)
According to the official, the government should be punishing those who are still hesitant on getting the jabs instead.
"Dahil sa totoo lang, napakarami pang hindi bakunado sa labas, wala pang 40% 'yung [nabakunahan na]. Bakit mo parurusahan 'yung hindi bakunado dahil sa mabagal tayo ng pagbabakuna, kung ang gusto nating parusahan yung hesitant, yung mga ayaw magpabakuna?"
(Because honestly, there are still a lot of unvaccinated people out there, vaccinated people have not yet reached 40%. Why would you punish the unvaccinated when we are slow in rolling out vaccines when who really want to punish are those hesitant and refuse to get the jabs?)
He added that employers should be given the freedom to decide whether to mandate vaccinations to their workers, but if the government says otherwise, they will follow it.
"Hindi ako pabor dun sa pipilitin mo 'yung mga tao na magpa-vaccine, pero kung 'yun ang order eh di susundin natin," he said.
(I am not in favor of forcing people to get the vaccines. But if that is the order [of the government] then we will follow it.)
The country previously announced that starting December, on-site workers should get the vaccines or they will need to submit themselves to regular COVID-19 tests at their own expense.
