Dispatch from Crame No. 1210:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on the government's flip-flopping "no vax-no ride" policy

1/20/22

In a matter of 24 hours, the Duterte administration managed to flip-flop on its "no vax, no ride" policy not once, but twice.

After receiving flak for the number of workers unable to go to work because of the "no vax, no ride" policy, the DOLE Secretary pronounced that all workers are exempt from the policy after all, since according to him, all work is essential.

Of course, this was not the original intent of the policy before it exploded in their faces. Even the IATF defines what essential industries that provide goods and services are. But Sec. Bello thinks that all industries are essential, therefore, all work is essential. With this DOLE pronouncement, and a most benevolent one, practically everyone is exempted, making the policy in relation to its objective basically useless.

However, only several hours later, the DOTr comes up with another pronouncement. According to the DOTr this time, not all workers are exempted, only those working for establishments allowed to operate under Alert Level 3. For some reason, high officials of this government belonging to the IATF apparently still have not managed to create their own chat group. They confuse the public with conflicting pronouncements before the media.

This is how the Duterte government plays with the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Filipinos. The flip-flopping nature of its policies depend largely on who is speaking on the government podium at a particular point. Two years into the pandemic, the Duterte administration still cannot get its act together, even on the simple matter of what workers are exempted from the "no vax, no ride" policy.

Clearly, up to now, leadership seems to evade this administration. Ang hilig kase ng gobyernong ito mag "ouido" sa polisiya gamit ang kabuhayan at buhay ng mga tao.###

(Access the handwritten version of Dispatch No. 1210, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._1210.pdf)