Lawyers join call for more vaccine supply in Iloilo

ILOILO CITY—Iloilo lawyers have joined the appeal of the local government and business groups for the allocation of more COVID-19 vaccines from the national government.

In a letter to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and COVID-19 vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. dated June 16, the Iloilo chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) said the “alarming spread of the virus” and classification of the city and province of Iloilo as under modified enhanced community quarantine have resulted to closure of courts, “depriving litigants and stakeholders of our justice system the efficient and prompt service.”

Lawyer Lorena Pearl Roseluz Gellada-Tubongbanua, IBP-Iloilo president, appealed for priority allocation of vaccines for lawyers.

“IBP’s members… are among the most vulnerable for infection…In fact, several of (our) members have already been infected and succumbed to death,” she said in the letter.

The IBP-Iloilo has 1,128 active members.

The Western Visayas chapter of the Philippine College of Physicians also made a similar appeal on Tuesday.

Business groups also called for more vaccines to help the economy recover.

These include the Iloilo Business Club, Inc., and the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation, Inc., Panay Federation of Sugar Farmers, Inc., Bankers Association of Iloilo, Inc., Ayala Business Club-Iloilo chapter and Popa Agriculture Cooperative.

JPV