Business firms call on gov’t to provide additional free COVID-19 tests

Philippine businesses are calling on the government to provide free COVID-19 testing for employees, given the increase in the country’s cases caused by the Omicron variant.

According to Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Emeritus George Barcelon, the government should provide additional tests for the private sector.

“We can only mitigate sana with more testing. Halimbawa, ‘yung mga tao namin, kami we are giving them our own test which is very expensive, kaya dapat ang gobyerno mag-supply naman ng mga reasonable at tsaka affordable and available na rapid test,” he said in a report on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.

(For example, we give our own tests to our employees, which is very expensive. The government should supply reasonable, affordable, and available rapid tests.)

This comes as the National Capital Region will be placed under Alert 3 starting Monday, January 3, until January 15, 2022, following the steep increase in new COVID-19 infections in the country.

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Ma. “Joey” Concepcion III also said the private sector will start implementing RT-PCR testing for unvaccinated onsite workers every two weeks this year.

“Malaking pera para sa kanila ‘yan. Halos P70,000 ang gastos nila kung hindi sila kukuha ng bakuna,” he said in the same report, noting that businesses already expect a downturn in January as the holiday driven surge dies down.

(That is a major expense, nearly P70,000 if they do not get any vaccines.)

Concepcion earlier said the private sector is working at procuring reformulated COVID-19 vaccines for booster shots targeted to be given every quarter in the second half of the year.

For its part, the Makati Business Club (MBC) voiced its support for the shift back to Alert Level 3 given the continuous rise in COVID-19 cases.

“Naniniwala ang business community na tama ang hakbang na ito. Base siya sa datos at siyensya, at advanced ang announcement para may oras at pagkakataon ang mga business at tao para mag-adjust dito,” MBC Spokesperson Coco Alcuaz said in the same report.

(The business community believes that this is the right step to take. It is based on data and science, and the announcement was made in advance for people and businesses to adjust.)

— Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA News