Leni: Give Incentives To Unvaxxed Pinoys

Instead of resorting to “punitive” measures for unvaccinated individuals, Vice President Leni Robredo called for “positive reinforcement” by giving them incentive to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations.

Robredo said it is not a crime and there is no law criminalizing being unvaccinated, but COVID-19 vaccination saves lives, protects people and prevents the spread of the virus.

“There’s no such law, because I’ve heard there’s an order to arrest. But I will go back to my previous belief that we should be giving incentive to encourage a person to get vaccinated,” she said in Filipino during her weekly radio program BISErbisyong Leni over dzXL.

“When the number of cases went down, it seemed we became complacent and we had not been taking guard. Incentivizing people to get vaccinated should have been continuous,” she added.

The strategy to encourage unvaccinated individuals to get vaccinated should be “positive reinforcement,” according to the Vice President, who is running for president in the May 9 national and local elections.

“It should be thought of, and not be easily punitive – if you’re not vaccinated, you will be arrested or this or that. It’s more positive if it’s like this: if you get vaccinated, here are the privileges you will enjoy,” she said.

“I hope the encouragement for vaccination can be more of positive reinforcement, not the fear of getting arrested for not getting vaccinated,” she added.

President Duterte has ordered barangay officials to arrest unvaccinated individuals who would insist on going outside of their residences as the country faces yet another surge in COVID-19 cases.

Duterte said barangay officials could “enforce all laws of the land within their jurisdiction,” and may even mobilize civilians to “assist” them.

In a televised address to the nation last week, the President said he is asking community leaders to look for unvaccinated individuals and make sure they are confined to their homes.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said Duterte’s threat to arrest those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 may be illegal, unconstitutional and violative of human rights.

The CHR said that while the 1987 Constitution does provide that movement can be restricted in the interest of national security, public safety or public health, a law is necessary to make this restriction legal.

Coordination with pharmaceutical firms

Robredo also urged the government to coordinate with pharmaceutical firms and drugstore companies to address the shortage of paracetamol and other basic medicines instead of denying the shortage of over-the-counter medicines.

The Vice President’s statement came after the Department of Health and the Department of Trade and Industry denied that there is a shortage of paracetamol and similar drugs for flu-like symptoms amid the sudden demand for them.

“It’s basic that they should be available, that the government should be coordinating with pharmacies, drugstore owners and drug manufacturing companies on how to prevent these shortages,” she said in her radio program.

She noted that the experience of shortage is “experiential.”

“Even if we issue statements that it is not true that medicines are running out, of course, it’s experiential, consumers who end up not having anything to buy,” she said.

“The government should be focusing on this,” she added.

Pharmaceutical giant Unilab Inc. recently apologized for the temporary shortage of some of its brands in drugstores due to “extraordinary demand.”

Long debates

While he advocates for more individuals to get their jabs against COVID-19, Partido Reporma chairman and standard-bearer Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said the policy to arrest unvaccinated citizens who will violate stay-at-home orders amid the continuing pandemic is legally complicated.

In an interview over dwIZ radio on Saturday, Jan. 8 Lacson explained this issue presents an ethical dilemma or some kind of a trolley problem for our legal luminaries, who might have a hard time to settle potential disputes over such directive because of two colliding rights – that of an individual and the society.

“You know, that move or suggestion of the president, even if you ask a Supreme Court judge as a legal expert about it, you won’t receive an exact answer right away. You may just be told ‘we will study the matter,” Lacson said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“It puts the rights of an individual [over his personal health] on a collision course with the rights of many [who want to be protected] … And I believe this is already covered by the [provisions under] Republic Act (No.) 11332, right?” he added.

Lacson was referring to the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act of 2018, which already declared it a policy of the state “to protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them.”

“If we look at it, if we analyze it, there is already an existing law. It was enacted in 2019, the amended version of an earlier law. But it [policy to arrest the unvaccinated] will go through a long debate if it reaches the Supreme Court in case someone files a petition against it,” Lacson noted.

“What I just don’t understand is that the vaccines are free, right? … How come other people still refuse to get vaccinated when it could protect not only themselves and their loved ones, but also other people even if they are strangers to them?” he asked.

Lacson is currently in isolation as he tested positive for COVID-19 based on results that came out on Thursday night, Jan. 6. In an interview over dzRH on Sunday, Lacson took the opportunity to publicly thank his friends, colleagues and supporters for sending him “get well soon” messages and expressions of concern that lifted his spirits following his recent COVID-19 diagnosis.

Lacson revealed that among those who sent their well wishes to him were fellow presidential aspirant Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso, Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.

He said Moreno even offered him “molnupiravir,” the antiviral pill believed to be effective against COVID-19, which the senator politely declined because he would rather let him distribute it to his constituents or other citizens, who are probably going to need it more.

Robredo’s running mate, Sen. Francis Pangilinan is also in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 on Saturday night.

Another presidential aspirant, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. also had to be isolated after being exposed to COVID-positive spokesperson and close-in security personnel. Marcos failed to attend a Commission on Elections’ hearing on his disqualification case on Friday, Jan. 7 due to this.

Marcos’ campaign headquarters in Mandaluyong City will remain closed for another week after a huge number of its staff and volunteers tested positive for COVID-19 i during a facility-wide reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR tests conducted on Friday.

Constitutional duty

Former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo defended Duterte’s order to restrict the movements of unvaccinated individuals amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

In a statement, Panelo said the President’s constitutional duty as head of the state is to serve and protect the people pursuant to Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution.

The President is constitutionally mandated to promote and protect the right of the people to health under Article 2, Section 15 of the Constitution, according to Panelo.

Similarly, the President is tasked to maintain peace and order; protect life, liberty and property; and promote the general welfare under Article 2, Section 5 of the Constitution.

“Hence, pursuant to those aforementioned provisions, the President can order restrictions in the mobility of unvaccinated people to secure the safety of the general public from the infectious disease,” Panelo said.

“Individual freedom to move can be restricted in the name of public health, given the presence of the pandemic,” he said.

Panelo, who is running for senator in the May 9 elections, argued that it would be a dereliction of duty on the part of the President if he fails to undertake appropriate and necessary steps to restrict the movement of unvaccinated individuals that endangers the safety and general welfare of the public.

He said the movement restriction order would benefit those whose movements are impaired as well as those who are not, as the risk of infection of the coronavirus is greatly diminished.

In a public address last week, Duterte said barangay or village chiefs have the authority to restrain unvaccinated people or arrest them if they insist on coming out of their homes.

“Because it’s a national emergency, it is my position that we can restrain unvaccinated people,” he added.

‘Opening doors to more abuses’

Meanwhile, activist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) has slammed Duterte’s recent order to prevent unvaccinated individuals from leaving their homes, saying that the new policy “will open the doors to more abuses.”

“In practical terms, this ‘lockdown order’ for the unvaccinated will open the doors to more abuses, as its implementation will again be subject to different interpretations by the authorities. Furthermore, there are still those who are unvaccinated simply because none are available. It is not their fault,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said.

For Bayan, the new lockdown order is “merely intended to make it appear that the President is doing something” despite his administration’s failure to address the more important issues such as low testing and contact tracing.

“Instead of increased testing and better contact tracing, Duterte is enforcing a nationwide stay-at-home order for unvaccinated people,” Reyes said.

“Politically, this is merely intended to make it appear that the President is doing something, even if it doesn’t address the basic and most urgent need now, which is testing and contact tracing and aid for the economically displaced,” he added.

Reyes said the latest surge in COVID cases is a reflection of the Duterte administration’s “failed pandemic response that dates back to 2020.”

“It will (have been) almost two years since the outbreak here in the Philippines, and it seems that Duterte, (Health Secretary Francisco) Duque (III) and their colleagues have hardly learned anything on how to help people while addressing the pandemic,” Reyes added. – With Helen Flores, Elizabeth Marcelo