The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — Employees of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) on Tuesday reiterated their pushback against the creation of the Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ahead of the second State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is expected to endorse it.
In a picket at the RITM compound in Muntinlupa City, healthcare workers expressed alarm over provisions in the House and Senate versions of the proposed CDC that point to mass layoffs and streamlining of the administrative structure.
Romeo Garcia, president of the RITM Employees Association, told the Inquirer that their “security of tenure is clearly threatened.”
“There will be a new structure, and we still don’t know what will happen once CDC comes in. [And] there’s this option for affected employees … if they don’t fit the qualification standards of the CDC,” Garcia said.
Inaugurated in 1981, RITM catered to infectious disease patients needing tertiary care.