By Robina Asido

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the "no vaccine, no ride policy" being implemented by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) does not apply to workers.

"Our workers are exempted because they are rendering essential services. If you stop them, how will the business run? If there is no business, there is no economy. So, our workers are always exempted," he said during the ''Laging Handa'' virtual public briefing on Tuesday.

"That's right, they are exempted from the ‘no vax, no ride’ policy. That is very clear. So there should be no reason to doubt or to question the ‘No vax, no ride’ policy," he added.

Bello stressed the need for an information drive to inform the DOTr and the enforcers that workers should be exempted from the ‘no vax, no ride’ policy.

"There should be an information drive to inform the DOTr that the ‘no vax, no ride’ policy does not apply to our workers. That is clear when rendering essential services, so they are exempted from the coverage of ‘no vax, no ride’ policy," he said.

"So maybe we just need a more massive information drive to inform especially not only the public but especially the enforcement agency, the police and those from the DOTr. They should know that the workers are exempted from this ‘no vax, no ride’ policy," he added.

Bello said unvaccinated workers should only have to show their company identification cards before riding public transportation.

" Our workers always bring their company IDs with them, so that will not become a problem," he said. DMS