On Cebu’s no vax, no bonus policy
IT is sad that some leaders have come up with the idea of ‘no vaccine, no bonus’ policy as in the case of Cebu City Hall employees.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama announced on Monday that the some 9,000 city employees will receive ₱20,000 Christmas bonus each, but only if all of them have received their full dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Rama had said it is to set a policy that as public servants, they should serve as role models of government policies which include the goal of achieving herd immunity. Bonuses are just prerogatives of local government authorities and are given on top of the 13-month pay and therefore, may or may not be given.
Rama is looking into reports that many employees remain unvaccinated and that of the some 700,000 city population, only about 290,000 residents have received their shots.
If you are working in government, you have to consider that you are a public servant and must set an example and toe the line, if doing so would serve the greater good of the greater majority. Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Benhur Abalos said that in the National Capital Region, about 70 percent of the population have been fully vaccinated.
Abalos also expressed optimism that by yearend, about 90 percent of the population in metro would have already gotten their full dose of COVID vaccines. However, when Christmas comes, many will surely go the provinces and come back to Metro Manila and vice versa. A new transmission is therefore not farfetched if the vaccinated mingle with the unvaccinated.
Vaccines don’t translate to total immunity and only provide added protection against a severe or critical case of COVID-19. I know of some who have been fully vaccinated and yet landed in the intensive care unit.
The government is opening up and easing rules just for the sake of revving up the economy. It does not mean that the pandemic is over and that the virus had been licked.
I agree with Rama’s pronouncement that those who are refusing to get vaccinated should not drag the vaccinated into the problem of a possible resurgence, unless there are really compelling reasons as to why they cannot get jabbed.
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Jokjok (from Christopher Alipio of Batangas City)– MOM:Anak tawagan mo nga tatay mo,tanungin mo bakit wala pa siya hanggang ngayon/PEDRO: Sige po nay! (maya-maya pa…) ‘Nay!! Babae po ang sumagot!/MOM:Lintek!!! Sabi ko na nga ba at may tinatago ‘yang tatay mo, eh! Anong sabi nung babae?/PEDRO: Ang sabi po, “You only have one peso in your account.” Hindi ko na tinapos, ‘nay, mukhang matapobre, eh! Nag-iingles pa siya andaming sinasabi. Di ko na alam kung ano isasagot ko eh kaya sinabi ko na lang na ingatan niya si Itay.
