PENDING approval by Congress of the bill on mandatory vaccination, it seems that the government is now exerting pressure on people to get the vaccine. No less than President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly urged unvaccinated people “not to go out of their residences.” Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Conception suggested to provide buses exclusively for vaccinated individuals. Non-vaccinated individuals cannot ride these buses. I think this move will create divisiveness and will lead to discrimination.
Earlier, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan issued an executive order (EO) that said only vaccinated individuals would be allowed to enter malls, supermarkets, public and private markets and grocery stores. The EO was supposed to take effect on Aug. 25, but Malacañang rebuked Ahong, prompting the latter to recall his EO. Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said Covid-19 vaccination should be incentivized and should not be a punitive action. I fully agree.
Cavite Rep. Elpedio Bargaza Jr. has filed a bill that will make vaccination for Covid-19 mandatory. Under House Bill 9252, or “The Covid-19 Vaccination Program Act,” only those with medical certificate identified by the Department of Health (DOH) will be exempted from inoculation.
But can the government make Covid-19 vaccination mandatory? This is a very sensitive, tricky and highly debatable issue. Even legal luminaries are divided on the subject matter. Some legal minds say that Filipinos have the constitutional right to refuse the vaccine as it may violate Section 11, Article 2 (State Policies) of the 1987 Constitution, which states thus: “The State shall value the dignity of every human person and guarantee full respect of human rights.”
The DOH also said getting vaccinated should be voluntary. DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that while the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) considered inoculation, it decided on making it voluntary based on the recommendation of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization of the World Health Organization (WHO).
“They should purely be voluntary because it is the right of the person to decide on his own whether he receive or not receive his vaccine,” Vergeire said. She added that while it is not mandatory, it should be the people’s “moral obligation” to be inoculated against Covid-19 to protect not only the individual, but his family members against the disease. Vergeire added that people cannot be compelled to get jabbed at this stage of the vaccine development since studies are not yet complete.
However, there are also some legal luminaries who said that Congress can enact a law that makes vaccination against Covid-19 mandatory. The state can invoke its police power to justify the measures. In fact, there is already a law, Republic Act 10152, which makes immunization against tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella and flu compulsory for infants and children. If these compulsory vaccinations are allowed, why not for Covid-19?
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, a lawyer, cited a Supreme Court decision on the case “People of the Philippines versus Jose Abad Santos,” which affirmed that the “right of the state to compel compulsory vaccination is well-established.” The case was about a father who did not present his children for vaccination against small pox, flouting the Administrative Code, which imposed a fine of P10 for the failure.
Veteran Cebu lawyer Edgar Gica said people who refuse to be vaccinated can be declared “nuisance” and can be prosecuted under the Penal Code, any local ordinance, civil action or abatement of the public nuisance without judicial proceeding.
Article 694 of the New Civil Code of the Philippines defines nuisance as “any act, omission, establishment, business, condition of property or anything else which; (1) injures or endangers the health or safety of others or; (2) annoys or offend the senses or (3) shocks, defies, or disregards decency or morality; (4) obstructs or interferes with the passages of any public highway or street, or any body of water or (5) hinders or impairs the use of property.” And unvaccinated individuals may be considered “nuisance” under the number one definition.
Well, pending the passage of the law on mandatory vaccination, I think the government should respect the individual’s human and constitutional rights to refuse the vaccine.