The Human Capital and Resources Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines held its first meeting last February 10, 2022, entitled “Executive Update on Recent DOLE Advisory/Initiatives”. Invited as speaker was Dr. Teresita S. Cucueco, Assistant Secretary and Concurrent Director for the Bureau of Working Conditions of the Department of Labor and Employment.
Dr. Cucueco highlighted some relevant DOLE COVID-19 issuances, recent IATF issuances, and latest DOH directives. One of these is the IATF Resolution No. 149, where all partially vaccinated employees in the public and private sectors tasked to do onsite work need not undergo regular RT-PCR tests at their own expense as long as their second dose is not yet due, pursuant to the interval prescribed for the brand of vaccine received as the first dose. The meeting had a lot of attendees, including several employers who took the opportunity to ask Dr. Cucueco labor-related questions in order to understand the implications of new labor advisories and directives.
On Bayanihan-Bakunahan, the speaker also reiterated that government and private sector employees and workers, who will be vaccinated during the aforesaid period, shall not be considered absent from their work, provided that they present proof of vaccination to their respective employers, subject to rules that may be issued by the DOLE and the Civil Service Commission.
Regardless of the vaccination status, we need to continue practicing our Mask-Hugas-Iwas-Airflow-Bakuna to prevent further transmission and emergence of new variants.
Moreover, Dr. Cucueco also highlighted the safety seal certification initiative of DOLE. It is a voluntary certification scheme that affirms that an establishment is compliant with the minimum public health standards set by the government and uses or integrates its contact tracing with StaySafe.ph. DOLE issues the safety seal for companies in manufacturing, utility (electric, water, gas, air conditioning supply, sewerage, waste management), information and communication (private publication, news, movie production, TV and radio companies), as well as construction sites, warehouses, among others.
The IATF has also issued the COVID-19 Alert Level System. This refers to the new community quarantine classifications for dealing with COVID-19, covering entire cities, municipalities, and/or regions, aimed to manage and minimize the risk of the disease through system indicators, triggers, and thresholds determined by the IATF to specify the public health and social measures to be taken in relation to the COVID-19 response. This may be updated based on new scientific knowledge, information about the effectiveness of control measures in the country and overseas, and its application.
- Alert Level 1 – refers to areas wherein case transmission is low and decreasing; total bed utilization and intensive care unit utilization rates are low.
- Alert Level 2 – refers to areas wherein case transmission is low and decreasing; healthcare utilization is low or case counts are low but increasing; or case counts are low and decreasing but total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate is increasing.
- Alert Level 3 – refers to areas wherein case counts are high and/or increasing, with total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate at increasing utilization.
- Alert Level 4 – refers to areas wherein case counts are high and/or increasing, with total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate at high utilization.
- Alert Level 5 – refers to areas wherein case counts are alarming, with total bed utilization rate and intensive care unit utilization rate at critical utilization.
According to Dr. Cucueco, COVID-19 will soon be considered an endemic disease and DOLE will continue to monitor to ensure the implementation of minimum public health safety standards. The virus is still there! Dr. Cucueco reiterated that we should not let our guard down as we are slowly coming back to our physical offices and adapting to the new normal.
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