DOLE offers incentives for vaccinated workers

MANILA, Philippines — To encourage more workers to get inoculated against COVID-19, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is giving out bicycles and other freebies to fully vaccinated employees under the so-called Baksikleta program.

“Starting July 1, those who are vaccinated will receive bikes, along with bag and a cellphone with P5,000 load. Get vaccinated and DOLE will give a little incentive,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said at a virtual briefing yesterday.

According to Bello, 1,000 essential workers from the National Capital Region (NCR) and another thousand from different regions are expected to benefit from the program.

DOLE maintained that while employees are highly encouraged to get vaccinated, a “no vaccine no work policy” is still prohibited.

Deployment cap, quarantine

The labor chief hoped that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) would allow the overseas deployment of 5,000 more Filipino nurses.

“I asked for 5,000 but it depends. It looks like they will consider our position to increase the cap, from 5,000 to another 5,000,” Bello said in Filipino.

He also pushed to shorten the quarantine period for all vacationing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Upon testing negative for COVID, Bello asked that quarantine time for OFWs be cut from 10 days to just five, to give them more time to reunite with their families.

Safety seal

Meanwhile, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)Secretary Ramon Lopez is urging different establishments to apply for and secure safety seals to help reopen the economy and allow more people to return to work.

Lopez said the safety seal would ensure business establishments are safe to visit, allowing them to operate at higher capacity.

Trade Undersecretary Ireneo Vizmonte said that as of June 14, the DTI has issued safety seals to 133 establishments, 112 were denied or referred to other agencies, with 794 for inspection and 759 for evaluation.

The safety seal is issued to establishments found compliant with minimum public health standards set by the government.

The DTI is the issuing authority for groceries, convenience stores, construction supply or hardware stores, logistics service providers, barbershops and salons, as well as service and repair shops. Application is voluntary.

To apply for a safety seal, establishments simply have to visit the safety seal microsite, conduct a self-assessment and go through the inspection to be conducted by the issuing authority. – Louella Desiderio