House Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Arlene Brosas of Gabriela partylist slammed the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) proposal to exclude unvaccinated Filipinos from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) saying it is a "lousy scheme to cover up the Duterte administration's slow and inequitable vaccine rollout."
"Kung wala raw bakuna, hindi raw makakatanggap ng (If you don't have a vaccine, you won't receive) 4Ps subsidy. Why not focus on effective vaccine information drives instead of forcing 4Ps to get vaccinated with the new condition?" said Brosas.
"Vaccine hesitancy among some Filipinos cannot be solved by another ill-conceived arm-twisting scheme by the DILG in a desperate bid to boost the number of vaccinated Filipinos," added the Makabayan bloc solon.
The Gabriela partylist lawmaker said the DILG must not enforce a new subsidy condition which is contrary to the 4Ps Law or Republic Act 11310.
"Ang kailangang lutasin ng DILG at ng gobyernong Duterte ay ang mabagal na vaccine rollout sa mga probinsya sa labas ng NCR (What the DILG and Duterte government need to solve is the slow vaccine rollout to the provinces outside NCR). On the whole, no province outside NCR has over 50% of its population vaccinated," Brosas stressed.
The partylist congresswoman has also proposed more intensive community-based info drives on vaccines, national government support to LGU vaccination programs, and fair distribution of existing vaccines. (Melvin Sarangay)