Bill granting 14-day paid pandemic leave must be certified as urgent, solon says

Amid the reimposition of enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and some provinces, Gabriela party-list Representative Arlene Brosas on Monday said the proposed measure seeking to provide a 14-day paid leave to private sector employees during a global pandemic should be certified as urgent.

"With the imposition of a stricter enhanced community quarantine accompanied by restrictions on public transportation, Filipino workers are still compelled to report to work because of 'no work, no pay schemes.' Worst, they are either required to work without hazard pay or be placed on unpaid forced leave or floating status," Brosas said in a statement.

"This is why the government should certify as urgent the Makabayan Bloc's Paid Pandemic Leave Bill to provide social safety nets in place as workers and their families continue to suffer from income losses," she added.

She said the chamber should hasten the approval of this measure as "Filipino workers continue to face the violent surge of COVID-19 cases brought by the Duterte administration's neglect to provide safety measures for the labor force and overall failed pandemic response."

The said bill grants a 14-day pandemic leave to employees who are confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of COVID-19 or any other emerging infectious disease that reached pandemic status, allowing them to undergo medical quarantine.

It also provides the same number of leaves to employees who are close contacts or have exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19 or another emerging infectious disease, and those who have an immediate family member who contracted the disease.

The House committee on labor and development has already approved the measure in December 2020.

The plenary session is adjourned until May 17.

The national government placed Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal under an enhanced community quarantine from March 29 to April 4 because of the continuing increase of COVID-19 infections.

The extension of this quarantine status will be dependent on the number of the COVID-19 cases in the following days.—AOL, GMA News