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'Who is playing God again?': Senators slam bid to block vaccine procurement by firms
'Who is playing God again?': Senators slam bid to block vaccine procurement by firms
“Who is playing God here once more?”
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon asked the question on Sunday, March 21 following reports of an alleged plan of the Department of Health (DOH) to prohibit several companies from procuring vaccines for their employees.
Drilon said such a move is patently “illegal and unauthorized” and can expose them to legal liabilities, including nonfeasance under the Revised Penal Code.
“I am deeply disturbed by this report. If indeed such a draft administrative order exists, that is a clear violation of the COVID-19 Vaccination Act of 2021. Such a policy is discriminatory and morally unacceptable. The DOH does not have the authority to do that,” Drilon said in a statement.
“Please stop playing God. This is not the time for politics and selfish agenda. It is our moral responsibility to share the vaccine,” the minority leader emphasized.
Drilon said he will call for Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to a Senate investigation if he insists on banning private entities from taking part in the vaccination program.
“The law recognizes the role of the private entities in arresting the pandemic. That law made them partners of government in ensuring that the workforce is safe and protected from the COVID-19,” he said.
“Our economic workers risk their lives daily. It is our responsibility to protect them too. Besides, each patient vaccinated by the private sector would mean two doses that the government will no longer spend for,” Drilon argued.
Senator Imelda “Imee” Marcos, on Saturday, March 20 bared the existence of a draft administrative order (AO) that would be submitted to President Duterte prohibiting manufacturers of tobacco, sugar, breastmilk substitute and other “unhealthy” products in the country from importing COVID-19 vaccines.
In a Radio DWIZ interview, Marcos said a concerned Cabinet official gave her a copy of the draft AO. She also said several Cabinet members, such as Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. were protesting the plan.
Marcos called the plan “downright evil” while Senate President Vicente Sotto III called it “discriminatory” and “absurd” and warned that the Senate will cut the DOH’s budget should it pursue such policy.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto also hit the draft AO saying the DOH and the National Task Force (NTF) seems to be “legislating by implementing rules and regulations (IRR)” the proposed vaccine blacklist of supposed “unhealthy” industries.
“This is legislation by IRR, a bad habit by bureaucrats who imagine themselves as the third chamber of Congress,” Recto said in a separate statement.
Echoing the sentiments of the minority leader, Recto reminded no such provision exists in Republic Act No. 11525 or the COVID-19 vaccination law.
“Two phrases in the draft section of the IRR will sabotage the public-private vaccination partnership. One is that any private entity should not be in ‘any way related’ to the tobacco industry, to the baby formula business,” Recto said.