CSC to release policy on regular COVID testing for unvaxxed gov’t workers

FILE PHOTO: CSC Commissioner Aileen Lizada. INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — The Civil Service Commission (CSC) said Friday it is working on a new policy that will provide guidelines for the regular coronavirus testing of unvaccinated government employees who will do on-site work.

CSC Commissioner Aileen Lizada said the agency will coordinate with the Department of Health (DOH) on the frequency of regular testing.

“Mayroong pinafinalize ngayon ang CSC na policy that will be dealing with ‘yung topic na ‘yan but we will also be in touch with DOH when we say regular PCR [test]. Ano ba ho talaga ang regular, is it one week, is it two weeks?,” Lizada said at the Laging Handa public briefing.

(The CSC is finalizing a policy about that topic but we will also be in touch with the DOH regarding the regular PCR test. How often should it be? Should it be one week or two weeks?)

“The Commission is [looking] into it. We have conducted several Commission meetings about it together with our legal and our policy office. So hintayin lang po natin (let’s wait for it). Anytime soon lalabas na po ang CSC policy about the topic (The CSC policy about it will be released anytime soon),” she added.

Starting December 1, all on-site workers in public and private firms located in areas with sufficient vaccine supply will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Unvaccinated workers may not be terminated from their jobs but will be required to regularly undergo a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction test or an antigen test at their own expense.

KGA