UNIVERSITY faculty and other academic personnel may soon be exempted from the city’s mandatory annual health certificate requirement after a city council panel approved a draft amendment narrowing the policy to high-risk occupations.
The proposed amendments to Ordinance No. 8793 introduce a risk-based classification that limits mandatory health certification to workers whose duties “directly and substantially affect public health,” including food handlers, sanitation personnel, and healthcare workers.
Under the draft amendments, teaching, administrative, and other office-based employees are classified as “low risk” and may be exempted from obtaining individual health permits, provided they are covered by institutional health programs or employer-administered medical examinations.
The draft also indicated that testing requirements shall not be done exclusively through a single government facility “when equivalent examinations from duly licensed or accredited facilities adequately satisfy public health objectives.”
The measure has cleared the committee level and is set to be taken up for plenary approval by the Manila City Council next week.
The proposed amendments follow sustained appeals from academic groups, including the Organisasyon ng Nagkakaisang Empleyado ng UST (ONE-UST), a coalition of labor unions in the University, and the Council of Teachers and Staff of Colleges and Universities of the Philippines, which had questioned the blanket application of the 2021 ordinance to faculty.
In a joint statement read before the council, the groups said the amendment would align requirements with “actual public health exposure” and prevent duplication of medical clearances already conducted within universities.
“This avoids duplication, reduces administrative burden, and recognizes the occupational health systems already in place in our schools,” the joint statement read.
The draft has also recognized institutional compliance mechanisms, allowing consolidated certifications in place of individual permits for low-risk sectors.
A legal opinion from the Manila City Legal Office supporting the amendment stated that while the city could issue regulations for public health, such measures must be “reasonable and proportionate” to the nature of the work.
Earlier, the Manila Health Department said faculty members were still covered under the existing ordinance, the city’s Sanitation and Disinfection Code signed by Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso in April 2022.
READ: Faculty still required to get annual health permits, City Hall exec clarifies
The Varsitarian has learned that non-tenured faculty were required to submit their health certificates before receiving their teaching appointments for next academic year.
ONE-UST earlier urged Manila officials to limit the requirement to newly hired personnel, citing the burden imposed on faculty members already subject to regular medical screening.
