The chairman of the Senate committee on higher education is backing government’s decision to gradually reopen colleges for face-to-face classes, beginning with those in health and medical courses.
Sen. Joel Villanueva
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN/MANILA BULLETIN)
“For as long a
Sen. Joel Villanueva
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Villanueva, chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment, said the ability to sustain the country’s economic recovery relies heavily on inoculating those providing essential services to the public such as delivery riders, market attendants, and construction workers.
He said he will scrutinize the government’s inoculation plan as soon as the Senate convenes the Committee of the Whole Monday, as they expect officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) managing the pandemic response, as well as from the Department of Health, to attend.
“We have to make sure that workers providing essential services are included in the government’s priority list, on top of its initial pronouncements of prioritizing healthcare workers, the police and the military, and the elderly,” Villanueva said in a statement.
Sen. Joel Villanueva
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“I agree and believe that there’s a lot of room for improvement, but the party-list system has reinforced a culture of accountability and provided another layer of checks and balances in our government, that I think cannot be simply ignored and overlooked,” Villanueva, a former representative of the Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) Party List, told reporters in a message.
President Duterte had asked Congress leaders during a recent meeting to abolish or make changes to the local party list system, echoing claims from his security advisers that some members of the House of Representatives are linked to the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
Sen. Joel Villanueva
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Villanueva, sponsor and co-author of the law, said on Tuesday that Congress has appropriated over P1 billion to implement the Doktor Para sa Bayan Act.
He said that under the 2021 General Appropriations Act, some P802 million has been allocated to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Health (DOH) to allow them to accommodate more scholars under the medical scholarship program.
Lawmakers also allocated P279 million for Cebu Normal University, University of Southeastern Philippines, and Western Mindanao State University to fund the opening of their respective colleges of medicine this year.
Sen. Joel Villanueva
(Senate of the Philippines / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Villanueva, chairman of the Senate labor committee, suggested to National Task Force Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. to also consider other frontline service workers such as those in the logistics sector, public transportation, and other sectors in the services industry in its inoculation program.
Aside from frontliners, a portion of the country’s labor force, such as workers in the food and retail sectors, construction and private security, should also be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.
“Maliban po sa ating mga frontline service personnel tulad ng mga healthcare workers, pulis, at militar, nais makita ng ating mga manggagawa, lalo na po ang mga minimum wage earners, kung paano sila mabibigyan ng access sa bakuna. (Besides our frontline service personnel like healthcare workers, policemen, and military, our workers, especially minimum wage earners, would like to see how they wil