DTI Urges Against the Enforcement of Mandatory Vaccine Passes

On Sunday, the Department of Trade and Industry expressed its opposition against the vaccine pass being mandatory to enter indoor establishments.

“Kami ho, hindi ho kami sang-ayon sa vaccine pass na gagawing mandatory… Hindi po siguro talaga puwede yun. May issue sa discrimination; pangalawa napakababa pa ng ating percentage na na-vaccinate na population,” (“We don’t agree with this proposal to make the vaccine pass mandatory. It doesn’t seem likely. There’s a discrimination issue, and the percentage of our population that’s already vaccinated is too low,”) said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

“Siguro 2 percent pa lang kasi over 2 million pa lang tayo (ng nabakunahan)… Kailangan pag-aralan yan pag medyo mataas na ang porsyento,” (“Maybe it’s around 2 percent because there are only over 2 million vaccinated. We need to study this if the percentage is high,”) he added.

According to vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., more than 2.6 million vaccine doses have already been administered in the country as of May 12. Over 5.15 million are yet to be administered.

In the previous week, President Duterte approved the shift of NCR Plus (Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal) to general community quarantine (GCQ) “with heightened restrictions” which will last until May 31.

This has allowed dining establishments to offer indoor dine-in services at 20% seating capacity and al fresco dining at 50% seating capacity.

Under the new quarantine classification, certain tourist attractions will also be allowed to reopen at 30% capacity and operating hours will be shortened.

Source: ABS CBN