The government has issued thousands of safety seal certificates indicating the compliance of business establishments to minimum public health standards.
A total of 43,332 public and private establishments have been issued the safety seal as of October 1, through the joint efforts of the Department of Health, the Department of Interior and Local Government, including local government units, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Tourism, and the Department of Trade and Industry.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the certification program is beneficial to the country’s recovering economy as it boosts the confidence of consumers to go out and visit establishments with the assurance of compliance to health protocols.
He encouraged more businesses to adopt the seal as an effective measure in curbing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
“Businesses can do their share in the fight against the pandemic and create a healthy space for consumers to transact their purchases and for employees to gainfully and safely earn a living,” Lopez.
Since its implementation in May 2021, issuing agencies have received around 85,731 applications based on the report of the Safety Seal Technical Working Group. More than half or 50.54% were approved while 11.5% (9,858 applications) were either denied or referred to the appropriate agency while the balance represents are those till under assessment.
Based on the government’s guidelines for its Safety Seal Certification Program, a business establishment is eligible to apply for a safety seal given that it is duly registered, adopting the
Staysafe.ph or any other local government unit-mandated digital contact tracing application, and most importantly, strictly following and implementing the minimum public health standards set by the government.
The safety seal certification also “bodes well with the DOT’s priority to ensure the health and safety of both tourists and tourism workers,” Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said. The government’s Safety Seal Technical Working Group meanwhile urged the public to be more informed of various ways to keep safe from COVID-19 and its variants, following the announcement on the new classification framework advocating the principles of 3C’s (Closed, Crowded, and Close Contact) strategy. This framework follows alert level systems that shall determine, among others, the protocols and allowable operational capacity of business establishments per city/municipality.
Metro Manila is classified under Alert Level 4 since September 16, which means that establishments and/or activities classified as high-risk for transmission shall not be allowed to operate.