Senate bets want paid leaves for workers to get jabbed, aid to sick employees

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MANILA, Philippines — A senatorial aspirant on Wednesday urged private firms to grant unvaccinated workers paid leaves to cover their vaccination schedules while another called for government assistance to help employees sick with COVID-19.

In a statement, former Philippine National Police chief Guillermo Eleazar asked private employers to give unvaccinated workers two days of paid leave to take their first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Sa pamamagitan ng vaccination incentive na ito, mawawalan na ng dahilan ang ilan sa ating mga kababayan na hindi magpabakuna dahil sa bandang huli, ang kumpanya din ang maapektuhan kapag tinamaan ng matinding epekto ng COVID ang kanilang mga unvaccinated na empleyado,” Eleazar said.

(With this vaccination incentive, workers will no longer have a reason not to get vaccinated because, in the end, it’s the company that will be affected if their unvaccinated employees contract severe COVID-19.)

Meanwhile, former Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who is seeking a Senate comeback this year, said workers sick with COVID-19 should get government assistance to nurse them to full recovery.

While he commended the Department of Labor and Employment to issue an advisory urging private sector employers to develop an appropriate paid isolation and quarantine leave program for COVID-hit workers, Estrada said workers should also be assisted in availing of hospital and healthcare services.

READ: Private sector urged to grant paid COVID-19 isolation and quarantine leaves

Medicines at a discount

If elected, Estrada said he would seek a 20-percent discount on medicine costs for government employees.

He also said he would propose institutionalized subsidies that would specifically aid workers afflicted with COVID-19.

“COVID will become endemic and a law must provide [an] automatic appropriation for aid to those who are in great need of assistance,” Estrada said.

Further, he said he would push for the passage of the proposed Health Services Control Act, which he previously filed that seeks to ensure affordable health care costs primarily in tertiary and specialized hospitals.

abc