A proposal to make inoculation against COVID-19 a requirement for poor families on the dole met with strong opposition from senators, a lawmaker and the vice president, even as the Commission on Human Rights said mandatory vaccination would be allowable under certain circumstances.
Senators on Sunday rejected the proposal of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) that the 4.4 million beneficiaries of 4Ps or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program would not be given their monthly subsidy if they refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Commission on Human Rights spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia, in an interview over radio dzBB, said mandatory vaccination is possible only under certain circumstances to ensure that no human rights should be violated.
She said a mandatory vaccination is a complicated issue, maintaining inoculation must be voluntary until the government has ensured that vaccines are available, accessible and sufficient in quantity, or it would lead to discrimination.
While the government may temporarily suspend certain rights in times of public emergency and within a limited period of time, making vaccination mandatory would require a law, De Guia said.
Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Michael Defensor rejected as “oppressive and anti-poor” the proposal to exclude 4Ps beneficiaries from receiving their conditional cash grants if they do not get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The proposal is downright oppressive and anti-poor, and simply unacceptable. Indigent families and their dependent children will suffer more if they get deprived of their cash subsidies,” Defensor, House committee on welfare of children vice chairperson, said in a statement on Sunday.
“Instead of penalizing poverty-stricken families, the government should find better ways to further improve public access to COVID-19 vaccination services,” Defensor said.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon said the "no vax, no subsidy” plan was “absolutely unacceptable, inhuman and callous.”
“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.
“It only shows that the DILG is detached from reality and unaware of the real plight of the poor,” he added.
Partido Reporma presidential candidate Senator Panfilo Lacson said it is a personal decision for one to get vaccinated or not. Instead of punishing people, the government should give them incentives to encourage them to get their jabs, he said.
Senator Francis Pangilinan agreed.
“Incentivize, [do] not penalize [them]. We shouldn't be cutting their subsidies. Taking away the money that will feed them is not the solution,” he said in Filipino.
He said the 4Ps should be implemented without conditions because that is the help needed by a poor family.
Pangilinan also urged the government to use the barangay structure to identify unvaccinated residents and to schedule vaccination days.
Senator Risa Hontiveros said the policy does not help the poor, and said there are no conditions in the 4Ps law that recipients must be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said the purpose of the 4Ps is to help the poor survive difficult times by giving them some funds while requiring them to do certain acts like having their children checked regularly at health centers.
These conditions were discussed at the start of the program's funding.
"It will not be proper to add a condition (which can be argued as unreasonable) to the PPP program without prior approval by the representatives of the people," he added.
Meanwhile, Drilon said the DILG should recall its proposal and called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the lead agency for the program, to protect the welfare of 4Ps beneficiaries.
“Let DSWD handle 4Ps. I call on the DSWD to defend the 4Ps beneficiaries against the ‘iron fist’ of DILG,” Drilon said.
Drilon, who is among the authors of Republic Act No. 11310 that institutionalized 4Ps, said that vaccination is not part of the conditions that beneficiaries must fulfill before receiving assistance.
The government’s flagship anti-poverty alleviation program has about 4.4 million Filipino families as beneficiaries since the time of the late President Benigno Aquino, who prioritized the program and increased its beneficiaries from about 700,000 in 210 to 4.4. million towards the end of his term, Drilon said.
“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,” Drilon said.
The DSWD had earlier maintained that COVID-19 vaccination is not among the conditions of 4Ps and vowed to oppose the proposal all out.
The spokesman for Vice President Leni Robredo also spoke out against the DILG proposal, saying she believed it was not right to force or threaten anyone.
“There are many solutions that need not be forced,” said her spokesman, Ibarra Gutierrez, during her weekly radio program over dzXL. Instead of threatening people who refuse to be vaccinated, he said, they should be provided with incentives.
DILG spokesman Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya earlier said the government was exploring the possibility of stripping 4Ps beneficiaries of their subsidies if they refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
On the other hand, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said he supported the vaccination of children under the 4Ps.
"The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) already includes up-to-date vaccinations of children as a conditionality. I see no reason why COVID-19 is to be considered an exception for this requirement. That said, while it would certainly address vaccine coverage, vaccine hesitancy is a matter of trust,” he said.
He said people appear to discriminate among brands, and there's nothing much that “we can do to dissuade them about these preferences.”
