The chairman of Barangay Central in Quezon City has decried the action done by a resident, who uploaded a video of a barangay officer asserting that no quarantine pass would be issued to those who are not yet vaccinated.
Rosa Magpayo, head of Barangay Central, said in a statement Saturday that what uploader Isabelle Estein did was "against the law because she did not ask permission from the barangay officer involved in the incident to post the video."
Magpayo added that the incident was "traumatic" for the barangay officer due to shame brought about by the video.
The barangay head was referring to a now trending video uploaded by Estein on Twitter, where she recorded a female Barangay Central officer asserting the “no vaccine card, no quarantine pass” policy in their barangay.
Magpayo said the barangay officer in the video only "got confused" by the repeated questions asked by the uploader, so she ended up telling a wrong policy.
The local government in a recent statement clarified that residents need not be vaccinated before getting a quarantine pass.
But Magpayo's defense was opposed by other residents, including a certain Herbie Docena who commented on Magpayo's Facebook statement.
"I'm a resident of Barangay Central. I personally went to the barangay hall last Wednesday to ask about how to get a quarantine pass. The staff I talked to (not the one in the video) said they would not be giving those who are not yet vaccinated a quarantine pass. I was even shown a document stating a policy about that)," Docena said.
"So I believe it was not 'confusion' that happened to the officer in the video. It seemed it's really a policy being implemented by the barangay, which was only being followed by the officers. Please don't pin the blame on them)," he added.