UST workers decry 'unjust' ordinance

UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas (UST) workers held a protest action on Friday against a city of Manila ordinance that requires them to secure a health permit every year to keep their employment.

City Ordinance 8793 states that workers are required to avail a health certificate, which requires a «mandatory online application and testing in securing a health certificate» and has a «mandatory wearing.»

They also need to pay P625 to secure a sanitary permit, and has to be renewed every year.

UP IN ARMS University of Santo Tomas employees rally on Aug. 9, 2024 against a Manila ordinance requiring all workers in the city to secure or present medical certificates at City Hall. PHOTO BY RENE H. DILAN

The workers were angry not only at Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna, but also at the enforcement of the ordinance, calling it «unjust» and «costly.»

Speaking to The Manila Times on Friday, UNM-USTH president Donnel Siazon said the ordinance is «redundant.»

«The city ordinance that requires all the workers in Manila to comply with the ordinance that gives health clearance to all the workers… she's (Lacuna) doing that to all the workers at the UST Hospital,» Siazon said in Filipino.

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«She should hold a dialogue with us, listen to the grievances of the UST workers, because we are telling her this is redundant,» he added.

He said around 4,000 workers in hospitals and universities in the city will be affected by the ordinance.

Siazon added that the unions will continue to fight for workers' rights, even if the mayor does not budge on the ordinance.

Meanwhile, student activist Annie Agon, who also took part in the rally, said that some workers were unable to file their health permits properly because of the recent downpours brought about by the southwest monsoon and Typhoon Carina last July.

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«They (workers) won't have the time to process their health permits and they (city officials) are trying to rush the workers, which is questionable,» she said in Filipino.

«For us, as students, now that school has already started and there's a threat that some of our professors would lose their jobs, it's like it's not just the workers, but it also affects us, as students, because of