The national government asserted that there will be no discrimination against COVID-19 unvaccinated Filipinos, following the implementation of the COVID-19 alert level system in the National Capital Region (NCR) on Thursday (Sep. 16).
With NCR placed under Alert Level 4, only fully vaccinated individuals can acquire indoor dine-in services, indoor personal care services, and indoor personal religious services up to 10% venue capacity. However, unvaccinated individuals can still acquire the outdoor services with 30% venue capacity.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Sec. Ramon Lopez emphasized that the actuation is not a “discrimination,” but an “incentive.”
“Hindi ito discrimination dahil naalala ninyo noon iyong senior over 65 bawal lumabas? Over 65, comorbidities, pero in-allow po iyong vaccinated. So, ganoon din iyong principle… So, it’s more of an incentive, hindi po ito discrimination,” Lopez said.
Moreover, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benhur Abalos reported that the number of fully vaccinated individuals in NCR is nearing 80%.
“[Sa] October 12, more or less kulang-kulang 78.98% or 79% ng taga-Metro Manila dalawa na ho ang bakuna. Kaya naman ito ang ginawang patakaran, kinonsider po lahat ito,” Abalos said.
Report from Mela Lesmoras/NGS- bny
