Vax passport for OFWs pressed
TWO party-list solons have expressed concern over the reported rejection of vaccination card of the Filipinos working abroad and urged the government to find ways on how to resolve the issue.
ACT-CIS Representative Nina Taduran said the Philippine government, through the Consulate in Hong Kong, should discuss thoroughly with the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region the issue concerning the vaccination card of our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).
On the other hand, Ang Probinsiyano Party-list Rep. Ronnie Ong urged the Congress to expedite the passage of a proposed bill which would create a globally-recognized national vaccination passport .
Both solons said that the absence of a credible proof of vaccination for Filipinos travelling overseas might lead to more entry refusals just like what is happening in Hongkong.
“It should be clarified if the international certificate of vaccination issued by the Bureau of Quarantine will be accepted as proof of vaccination of our OFWs bound for Hong Kong. Likewise, our government should fast track the issuance of this yellow vaccination passport so our OFWs can immediately return to their work in Hong Kong,” Taduran said.
“It is very unfortunate that the OFWs are having difficulty in returning to their jobs and spending too much money while waiting for their chance to fly and be admitted in Hong Kong,” she added.
According to Ong, the case of the OFWs who were denied entry in Hongkong because immigration authorities refused to recognize their locally-issued vaccination cards should raise the urgency to have an internationally recognized and credible Covid-19 vaccination passport for all fully-vaccinated Filipinos.
Ong has a pending House Bill 8280 or the proposed Vaccination Passport Law, filed in December last year or months before the government started its mass vaccination program but it has yet to be deliberated upon by the House Committee on Health.
“I’ve already anticipated that having these vaccination passports or other forms of proof of vaccination will be the new normal in our travels and this is the reason why I filed HB 8280 months before the first batch of vaccines reached us. Had the government been more proactive in creating a national vaccination database and national vaccination card, our embattled OFWs in Hongkong would have been allowed entry without any problem. Matagal na dapat binigyan solusyon ito pero hinintay pang maging problema bago na-address yung issue,” Ong lamented.
Meanwhile, Ong said in the absence of a globally-recognized vaccination passport, the government should at least expedite the creation of a national vaccination database which could allow immigration authorities around the world to verify and authenticate the various versions of vaccination cards that are issued to vaccinated Filipinos.
This database should have been put together by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as soon as the government started its vaccination program.
