Duterte: Employers have right not to accept unvaxxed applicants

Screenshot from Talk to the People Address November 9, 2021/File photo
Screenshot from Talk to the People Address November 9, 2021/File photo

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday evening, November 9, 2021, that employers have the right to turn down applicants who have not yet been vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Duterte said he agrees that terminating an employee on the grounds of not getting inoculated is a violation to the law, but not accepting them, in the first place, because they are not vaccinated is valid and legal.

“Kung hindi ka bakunado, hindi ka tanggapin sa trabaho. I think that is legal. You (employers) have the right to refuse, to accept as an employee of somebody who is not vaccinated and would go and join the rest of the employees in the factory or a place or whatever workplace that you have as your business tapos this guy would start to contaminate everybody,” he said during his Talk to the People Address.

“It could mean a loss, stoppage or whatever kung puro nagkasakit na. In this case, you are only protecting your property, your investments, your business. And second is that you are protecting your employees because you can be contaminated again...You are just protecting business and other people. So what’s the -- what could be the legal argument against it?” he added.

Duterte made the statement in the bid to boost the National Government’s vaccination program and encourage more people to get inoculated.

Last week, Duterte said he was not contented with the country’s vaccination program due to the slow deployment of vaccine doses particularly in the regions.

Among the proposals to encourage more people to get vaccinated was the “no vaccine, no ayuda” policy among the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

As of November 8, a total of 114,245,400 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have arrived in the country in which 64,947,366 have already been administered.

A total of 29,809,085 individuals or 38.64 percent of the target population were fully vaccinated, while 35,138,281 people or 45.55 of the priority group received their first dose.

National Task Force (NTF) chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the country hit the highest single day jabs of 1,119,389 on November 4, Thursday, and the highest weekly output of 5,473,704 jabs from November 2 to 8.

“Our output is significantly improved but still fall(s) short of our 1.5 million daily jabs target,” he said.

Galvez urged the local government units to be more creative in finding ways to increase their vaccination rate. (SunStar Philippines)

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