Senators slam DILG proposal for ‘no vaccination, no 4Ps subsidy’

(FILE) Enrollees in Catbalogan, Samar, avail themselves of the 4Ps program. CATBALOGAN.GOV.PH

MANILA, Philippines — Senators on Sunday criticized the proposal of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to withhold the subsidy of recipients of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) who are unvaccinated against COVID-19.

Senator Risa Hontiveros lamented that the proposal would not help Filipino families and that vaccination is not a condition under the antipoverty program.

“Ang mga ganitong panukala ay hindi makatutulong sa mga mahihirap. Walang kundisyon sa 4Ps law na kailangang COVID-19 vaccinated ang recipients kaya dapat igalang at irespeto ng ating mga opisyal ang desisyon ng sinuman ukol sa pagbabakuna,” she said in a statement.

(These kinds of policies do not help the poor. There is no condition in the 4Ps law that states a recipient must be COVID-19 vaccinated so officials must respect their decision on inoculation.)

“Conditions under Republic Act 11310 or 4Ps Law are fixed and conditionalities may be suspended because we’re still under a state of calamity until September 2022,” the senator added.

Hontiveros called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Health “to work together with parent leaders to continue their efforts to promote health/wellness by encouraging 4Ps to get vaccinated, instead of making it a conditionality.”

Meanwhile, Senator Francis Pangilinan, vice presidential aspirant and running mate of Vice President Leni Robredo in the 2022 polls, likewise noted that immunization is a personal decision and pushed to incentivize the program instead.

“Getting vaccinated is a personal decision. Ang dapat gawin ng gobyerno ay kumbinsihin ang mga taong piliin ang magpabakuna,” he said in a separate statement.

(What the government should do is to convince the people to get vaccinated.)

“In short, incentivize, not penalize. Hindi dapat pinagkakait ang ayuda. Hindi solusyon ang alisan ng pangkain ang tao. ‘Yung 4Ps should be implemented without conditions kasi nga pantawid ang kailangan ng pamilya,” he added.

(Aid should not be denied. Removing the source of food is not the solution. The 4Ps should be implemented without conditions because it is a help that a family needs.)

He also suggested letting barangays handle the vaccination program in their jurisdictions.

For his part, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon agreed with Robredo’s call to provide incentives to vaccinees.

“It pains me to see a government that has shown nothing but a total callous disregard for the vulnerable sector of our society. It is yet another display of the government’s callousness,” Drilon said in a statement.

“It only shows that the DILG is detached from reality and unaware of the real plight of the poor,” he went on, saying the agency should recall its proposal.

Drilon, who is among the authors of Republic Act No. 11310 that institutionalized 4Ps, said the proposal is contradictory to the program’s law.

“It is contrary to the 4Ps law to withhold benefits or expel members who are not vaccinated. The DILG cannot just do that. That will be inhuman and totally insensitive,” he said.

“We cannot assume that they are not vaccinated because they refused vaccines. They are not vaccinated because they have limited access to vaccines especially in the countryside or the rollout remains slow or the vaccines available are not what the people prefer,” Drilon added.

Based on a recent Social Weather Stations survey, more Filipinos are willing to get inoculated, noting a rise from 55 percent in June to 64 percent in the latest survey released this month.

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