Labor Secretary Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III on Tuesday said construction and manufacturing workers should be considered frontliners for constituting the backbone of the country’s economy.
Addressing hundreds of factory and construction workers who trooped to the labor department for the rollout of a special vaccination program, the Labor chief said the economy will not move “without you, being essential workers.”
“Kaya kayo dapat A1. Finally they (other government agencies) realized the value of our workers (You should belong to the A1 category,” Bello said.
Bello said that while the health workers are frontliners of the medical field, the construction workers and manufacturing laborers are the frontliners of the economy “so we must take care of both of them.”
More than 1,000 workers in the sectors received their first dose of the Covid vaccine from the close to half a million doses of special allocation seen to help speed up the reopening of the economy. The vaccination is a boost to the private sector’s Reform, Rebound, Recover 1Million Jobs for 2021.
The initial recipients of the vaccine will get their second dose on October 6.
The special vaccination program was under the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) Task Force chaired by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and co-chaired by the Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Tourism (DOT).
Other partners include Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP); Philippine Constructors Association; the local government of Manila; among others. The event was sponsored by the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry; Globe Telecoms; and Intramuros administration.
Bello once again thanked vaccine czar Secretary Charlie Galvez for granting their request for special allocation of vaccine doses on behalf of the construction and manufacturing industries.
Source: DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT REPUBLIC OF PHILIPPINES