Senators on Sunday shot down a proposal of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to exclude beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

In separate interviews on Radio DZBB, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said this would, in effect, make the inoculation against COVID-19 mandatory when it is not required under the 4Ps law or Republic Act No. 11310 which was signed in August 2019.

The senators insisted the conditions under the 4Ps Law are already fixed. They also expressed doubts such policy would be constitutional.

“Hindi pwedeng gawin yan kung walang batas, at hindi ako sasangayon. Unang-unang, may batas na nagsasabing ipagpatuloy itong 4Ps program at di mo pwede dagdagan ang mga kondisyon dyan (You can’t do that without any law; I don’t agree to that. In the first place, there is a law that says the government should continue the 4Ps program and you can’t just add some conditions to it),” Drilon said in an interview on Radio DZBB.

“Iyan po ay mga benepisyo na binibigay, halimbawa yung mga bata ay dapat pumasok sa mga eskwelahan. Nasa batas yan. Hindi pwedeng dagdagan lang ng DILG (Those are benefits that are given, for example, the condition to require children to study in school, that is in the law. The DILG just cannot add something to it),” he said.

Pimentel also said it would be wrong for the DILG to impose a “no vaccination, no subsidy” policy on a law that was enacted to show the “generosity of the government” to the poorest of the poor.

“All of a sudden, dadagdagan mo ng condition ang 4Ps, in effecting, forcing the vaccines, para makatanggap ng ayuda? Mandatory ba ito? Kasi kelangan nila ng pera, tulong eh. Disagree po ako dun, huwag nilang baguhin yung rules of the program i (All of a sudden you are putting additional conditions on the 4Ps, in effect, forcing them to take the vaccines, just so they can receive cash aid? Is this mandatory? Because they need cash, they need help. I disagree with that proposed policy. They should not change the rules) in the middle of the implementation of the program,” he said.

Besides, he said, these COVID-19 vaccines were only approved for emergency use because of the pandemic.

“These vaccines are chemicals, invented by man, by pharmaceutical companies. The status of these vaccines are only for emergency use because we are in an emergency...to inject a chemical into your body that is only approved for emergency use, and its efficacy have not yet been fully studied and cannot yet be sold into the market as a commercial product, for me, that should not be done,” Pimentel said.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros also agreed with Drilon and Pimentel, and said such policy will not help the poorest of the poor.

“Walang kundisyon sa 4Ps law na kailangang COVID-19 vaccinated ang recipients kaya dapat igalang at irespeto ng ating mga opisyal ang desisyon ng sinuman ukol sa pagbabakuna (There is nothing in the conditions under the 4Ps law that says recipients should be COVID-19 vaccinated that’s why our officials should respect the decision of every individual),” Hontiveros said in a statement.

“Conditions under Republic Act 11310 or 4Ps Law are fixed and conditionalities may be suspended because we're still under state of calamity until September 2022,” she pointed out.

She also said the Departments of Health and Social Welfare and Development should work together with parent leaders to continue their efforts to promote health or wellness by encouraging 4Ps to get vaccinated, instead of making it a conditionality.

“Nung simula ay wala pa sa 40 percent ng mga taga Metro Manila ang gustong magpabakuna. Ngayon ay lampas 80% na ang nagpabakuna. Basta’t maayos ang paliwanag at may tiwala sa magpapaliwanag, magpapabakuna naman ang mga Pilipino (at the start, less than 40 percent of those in Metro Manila want to get vaccinated. Now more than 80 percent of the population here have been vaccinated. As long as we can explain carefully and they can trust those who explains about the vaccines, Filipinos would want to get inoculated),” she pointed out.