Workers should be exempted from the “no vaccine, no ride” policy being implemented by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for public-utility vehicles (PUV), according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the rule does not apply to employees since they are rendering “essential service” to the economy.
“If you stop that [worker mobility], how will businesses continue? If there are no businesses, there will be no economy. That is why our workers are exempted,” Bello said during an online news briefing on Tuesday.
He also cited the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) Resolution 148-B, which “requires” workers to be fully vaccinated before they could go to work onsite.
The same issuance allows unvaccinated workers to report in their offices provided they undergo regular testing for Covid-19.
Bello said law enforcers should allow workers to ride PUVs as long as they present their company IDs.
“What we need is more information to inform the implementing agencies about this exemption to the general rule of ‘no vax, no ride’ policy especially for our workers,” Bello said.
DOLE issued the “clarification” amid reports some workers who are unvaccinated or yet to get their second Covid-19 jab were banned from riding PUVs to work.
Labor groups condemned the said policy for being discriminatory and anti-poor and demanded for its immediate abolition.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said such restriction is necessary to ensure the protection of the unvaccinated since they are more likely to get hospitalized if they get infected with Covid-19.
However, he noted the IATF will discuss on Thursday if the restriction for those with incomplete Covid-19 shots will also be exempted from the “no vaccine, no ride” policy.