MANILA MAYOR HONEY Lacuna is leaving it up to the city council to decide whether to amend a controversial health permit ordinance that has drawn an uproar among several workers since its implementation in UST nearly six months ago.
Responding to a question from The Flame on Thursday, Oct. 3, Lacuna said changes to Ordinance 8793 or the Sanitation and Disinfection Code of the City of Manila are under the discretion of the Manila City Council, the capital’s legislative body.
“Nasa konseho po iyon kung may ia-amend sila,” Lacuna said at SM Manila, where she filed her certificate of candidacy to seek reelection next year.
(It is up to the council if they will amend the ordinance.)
The health certificate policy has drawn flak among several labor groups for requiring employees to spend P625 every year for laboratory examinations to be undertaken exclusively at the Manila Health Department.
Critics of the ordinance have described the requirement as “inconvenient,” “unsanitary” and “burdensome.”
Manila Health Department chief Arnold “Poks” Pangan, also the husband of Lacuna, recently agreed to recognize laboratory test results from any health facility selected by private school employees, according to a report by ONE-UST, the University’s labor coalition.
Part-time faculty members who did not comply with the controversial ordinance within the July 31 deadline were barred from teaching during the first term. However, Pangan told ONE-UST in a recent meeting that the deadline was imposed by the University, not the Manila city government.
Asked if she would allow the non-compliant teaching staff to be reinstated next term, Lacuna said UST has reached an agreement with the Manila Health Department. She did not elaborate on the supposed agreement between the two institutions.
In August, Lacuna claimed the opposition to the ordinance may have stemmed from the UST administration’s supposed failure to explain the policy to its workers properly. She said the implementation would have been implemented smoothly if there was no “misunderstanding” among the parties involved. F
