Palace: New law needed to penalize vaccination plan violators

MANILA, Philippines — There is a need for a separate law that would penalize individuals who would violate and jump the line in the priority list under the national vaccination plan, Malacañang said Thursday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque issued the statement after the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said it sees no liability for ordinary persons who would skip the vaccine priority list.

“Kung ang mga nag-skip ng line ay taong gobyerno, mayroon po tayong tinatawag na [Jovito] Salonga Law, iyong Code of Ethics for all public officers,” Roque said in a public briefing.

(If those who skipped the priority list are government officials, we have the Salonga law on the Code of Ethics for all public officers.)

“Pero para sa ibang tao, kinakailangan talaga nating pumasa ng batas, magpasa ng batas…Kinakailangan ng batas na nagsasabi na ang isang bagay ay kriminal bago ka puwedeng magpataw ng parusa,” said Roque.

(But for other individuals, we need to pass a new law. There must be a law that says an act is criminal before you can impose a penalty.)

“Kinakailangan talaga natin ng national quarantine law ‘no, na magpapataw ng mga parusa among others dito sa mga taong hindi susunod sa vaccination deployment plan,” he went on.

(We need a national quarantine law that will impose penalties among others to those who are not following the vaccination deployment plan.)

President Rodrigo Duterte already ordered an investigation on the vaccination of an actor, believed to be Mark Anthony Fernandez, despite not being a health worker.

Duterte expressed alarm that this might put in danger the country’s allocated vaccines coming from the World Health Organization-led COVAX facility.

Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has issued a show-cause order to five local chief executives for jumping the priority list for COVID-19 vaccines.

EDV