The employees’ union at the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) yesterday demanded that mass testing be conducted within the Philippine government agency, after at least 150 employees tested positive of the coronavirus.
A DSWD official said that the employees, who work in various regional offices as well as its headquarters, may have been infected while distributing cash aid to Filipinos. The DSWD is responsible for disbursing the aid, which is given to what the Duterte administration calls the “poorest of the poor,” or those who have been displaced from their jobs due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
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Alan Balaba, the leader of the union called Social Welfare Employees Association of the Philippines, told news program TV Patrol that the employees are often ordered to conduct fieldwork without being given protective gear.
“After they are sent out, they should be tested to know if they have been infected with the virus,” he said.
“They don’t want to do a lockdown [at the offices] because the management said that it would affect the operations of the DSWD. The staff has been clamoring for a three day or one-week lockdown for the offices to be sanitized…The management, they don’t have the initiative to have the employees tested [for the coronavirus],” he added.
Balaba said that the union has been asking Secretary Rolando Bautista to provide better protection for the employees, but their request appears to be ignored.
The Philippines has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, with 161,253 recorded as of yesterday. At least 2,665 are dead, while 112,586 have recovered.
