CDO solon backs suspension of health workers’ deployment overseas
MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker on Tuesday pointed out that the ban on the deployment of healthcare workers overseas is constitutional.
Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez made the remark after Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. opposed the move of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to suspend the deployment of Filipino health care workers amid the coronavirus disease 2019( COVID19) pandemic.
Citing the Constitution, Locsin said the move is unconstitutional as it violates the right to travel.
Rodriguez, however, believes otherwise.
“It is definitely constitutional to temporarily prohibit Filipino medical workers from leaving our country and going abroad during this time of a declared public health emergency,” the lawmaker said in a statement.
Rodriguez said that though the Constitution guarantees the right to travel, such right “is subject to some exceptions such as when the country faces a clear and present danger to our public health because of COVID-19.”
Rodriguez said that Section 5 of the Bill of Rights states that “neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety or public health, as may be provided by law.”
“I support the statement of the President last night when he took a contrary view to that of Secretary Locsin who is against the ban, stating that the latter’s view would be right only during ordinary circumstances when the country is not facing a pandemic,” Rodriguez said.
The lawmaker said that as the country prepares for mass testing, health workers are needed to help fight the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez lauded Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello lll and the POEA “for their concern for the Filipino people by promulgating the temporary ban on our healthcare workers.”
Rodriguez earlier urged DOLE to suspend the deployment of Filipino nurses abroad after reading a report that Germany was sending a plane to Manila to fly in “at least 75” Filipino nurses to take care of their nationals infected by COVID-19.
GSG
For more news about the novel coronavirus click here.
What you need to know about Coronavirus.
For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH Hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
The Inquirer Foundation supports our healthcare frontliners and is still accepting cash donations to be deposited at Banco de Oro (BDO) current account #007960018860 or donate through PayMaya using this link.
