MANILA, Philippines — Aside from the initial five local chief executives who got show-cause orders, seven other mayors and one councilor may also be asked to explain why they got their COVID-19 ahead of those in the priority list, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said Friday.
“If the approval of the [officer in charge] comes out today, we’ll have another eight that will be released,” Densing said in an interview over CNN Philippines when asked if the agency will issue more show-cause orders against local executives.
Densing added that the show-cause orders may be issued after it got reports from Malacañang and the media that more mayors got inoculated early against COVID-19.
“After verifying yesterday, we really found that they really had themselves vaccinated,” he said.
Previously, five mayors were issued show-cause orders to explain their early inoculation despite not being on the government’s COVID-19 vaccination priority list.
Aside from the five local chiefs, the DILG said that Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez will also be asked to explain why Mark Anthony Fernandez got his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine even if the actor was not a medical frontliner.
Densing was also of the belief that Fernandez was not suffering from comorbidities, contrary to Olivarez’s claim.