Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez said on Thursday, Dec. 30, the Metro Manila Council (MMC) will recommend the implementation of mandatory vaccination to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).

In an interview with DZBB, Olivarez said mayors in the National Capital Region (NCR) have agreed to create a technical working group to study the implementation of mandatory vaccination amid the threat of the Omicron variant of COVID-19
“Huling meeting po namin, ayun po ang napagusapan natin, kasi alam naman natin may banta itong COVID Omicron na ito. Pinagaaralan po ng Metro Manila Council at pinagsasang-ayunan ng lahat na magbuo muna ng technical working group para pag aralan mabuti tungkol dito sa vaccination na ito na compulsory (During our last meeting, that's what we talked about, because we know that this COVID Omicron is a threat. The Metro Manila Council is studying it and everyone agreed to first form a technical working group to study carefully this compulsory vaccination),” he said.
Olivarez also clarified that the ordinance on COVID-19 vaccination should come from the national government.
“Pinag-aaralan po diyan yung legality. Hindi naman po kami pwedeng gumawa ng bawat isang ordinansa sa bawat isang city o isang munisipyo. Kailangan ito ay manggaling sa national na ipatutupad sa local government units (The legality of the proposal is being studied. We cannot make an ordinance iper city or municipality. It must come from the national government to be implemented by the local government units)," he added.
"Ang tingin ko, dapat i-mandatory na yan talaga. Pero uulitin ko po na hindi po puwedeng manggaling sa LGU yung ating ordinansa... It should be a national, executive order, o batas na ipapatupad. Kami po sa baba, ipapatupad lang namin (I think that should really be mandatory. But let me repeat that the ordinance cannot come from the LGU It should be national, in the form of an executive order, or law to be enforced. We will just implement it)," he said.
The country has detected its fourth case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 on Monday, Dec. 27 in a 38-year-old Filipina who arrived in the country from the United States.