BUSINESS has yet to recover from the adverse effects of the economic slump in view of the continuing onslaught of the pandemic and as such may not be able to shoulder the cost of COVID-19 vaccines for their employees.
In an interview, Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines President Sergio Ortiz-Luiz assailed calls to mandate all business owners to shoulder the vaccination of all their workers, aptly describing such calls as unjust for small businesses.
The ECOP president said that while big companies are already looking at shouldering the vaccination expense of their employees, it would be unfair to impose the same obligation to small businesses that have been struggling to survive.
“‘Yung maliliit na kompanya, eh hindi naman makatuwiran na ‘yung trabaho ng gobyerno ipakakarga mo sa kanila, pagbabayarin mo ang dami-dami na ngang binabayaran,” he said.
“Unang-una, hindi naman lahat tayo gustong magpa-vaccine… ‘yung iba nga natatakot magpa-vaccine,” he said.
Government data shows micro, small and medium enterprises make up 99 percent of businesses in the country.
Health experts earlier said that at least 60 percent of the population needs to be inoculated against COVID-19 to develop herd immunity against the highly-contagious virus.
The ECOP chief urged the government to prioritize the jumpstarting of the country’s economy rather than continuously “experimenting” on programs adding to the already heavy burden of the people.
“Marami pa ring kompanya ang hindi makapag-decide kung magtutuloy sila o magsasara,” he said.
“Kailangan siguro medyo bilis-bilisan natin ang recovery dahil kapag hindi… marami ang mamamatay, magugutom,” he said.
One major factor that is slowing down economic recovery according to Ortiz-Luis, is the wrong focus of the government, including the automation of payment schemes in the transport sector.
“Pinasok ‘yung Beep (card), pinasok ‘yung RFID… sinasabi na namin, ‘yang lahat ng ‘yan saka na gawin ‘yan. I-mobilize muna ‘yung mass transportation,” he said.
“Dapat ‘yan, lahat nung eksperimento na ‘yan, pati ‘yung modernization ng jeep na ‘yan… dapat ‘yan back burner ‘yan. Tapusin muna ‘yang COVID… Huwag nilang isabay at ikatwiran ‘yung COVID para magawa ‘yun,” he said.