The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Friday, Jan. 14, hit back at ACT-Teacher's Rep. France Castro, of the Makabayan bloc, for branding the inventory of the unvaccinated individuals against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a “witch hunt’’ despite assurances that it will not violate human rights.
“To call the President’s directive as well as the ordinances passed by the LGUs (local government units) as a witch hunt is completely irresponsible and uncalled for. We are facing an unprecedented global health emergency and we need to protect the unvaccinated. Again, the purpose of the inventory is to protect the unvaccinated from getting sick and dying as well as to protect our health care system from being overwhelmed. How is that a witch hunt?,” asked DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya.
“Moreover, it is neither unconstitutional nor violative of a person’s right to privacy because the data of unvaccinated persons is being collected for a legitimate purpose and that is to address the latest wave of COVID-19 infection under alert level 3,” he added.
Malaya issued the remarks after Castro alleged that the DILG was "imposing a policy that is unconstitutional and violative of a person’s right to privacy” when it ordered LGUs to submit a list of individuals who have yet to receive their COVID-19 vaccines.
Malaya insisted that the policy is being implemented within the bounds of Republic Act (RA) No. 10173 (Data Privacy Act of 2012) and RA No. 11332 (Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act).
Citing the need to balance the people’s rights and responsibility, Malaya stated that Castro "should not be so swift in shooting down the efforts of the national and local governments and calling them unconstitutional or unlawful without knowing the rationale behind the policy.’’
Malaya also assured the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) that the inventory will not be published or released to the public and will only serve as a reference by the barangays in implementing the ordinances passed by the LGUs.
The DILG spokesperson explained that RA 11332 is related to RA No. 10173 which allows the processing of personal information for a legitimate purpose.
Section 7 of RA 11332 provides that the President shall declare a State of Public Health Emergency in the event of an epidemic of national and/or international concern which threatens national security in order to mobilize governmental and non-governmental agencies to respond to the threat.
Malaya noted that the ongoing status of state of calamity in the country is related to Section 12 (e) of Data Privacy Act that provides one of the conditions when it is permitted to process personal information, which is when it is necessary in order to respond to national emergency, to comply with the requirements of public order and safety, or to fulfill functions of public authority which necessarily includes the processing of personal data for the fulfillment of its mandate.’
“In this regard, the data identifying unvaccinated individuals is needed by the State to properly implement quarantine protocol needed to protect the unvaccinated as well as to protect the health system from being overwhelmed,” Malaya maintained.
President Duterte’s Proclamation 1218 on Sept. 10, 2021 extended the validity of the state of calamity for one more year, or until Sept. 12, 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic following the recommendation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
"The government’s intent is not to harm them but protect them and nudge them towards vaccination and to promote general welfare and public health,” Malaya said.
He said the roster of the unvaccinated population can also help local government units (LGUs) identify and convince them to finally get the life-saving jabs.
“We stand by our call to our barangay chiefs. We need to identify the unvaccinated to protect everybody. The goal of the DILG is to protect people’s right to health at sa paglobo ng mga kaso ngayon, iyon ang pinakamahalaga,” Malaya insisted.
Malaya said the Supreme Court (SC) has also laid down in jurisprudence that Section 15 of Article II of the Constitution which says that “the State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them” is self-executing and judicially enforceable even in its present form.
“The policy on restricting the unvaxxed is very much in line with the Constitutional State policy on people’s right to health. We hope to instill to them the consciousness of their adverse effect to our national and local governments’ effort in beating the pandemic,” he noted.
Likewise, Malaya addressed Castro’s statement that the government should focus on listing citizens who lost their jobs because of the pandemic and the families in need of financial aid or ayuda.
“The government has not turned a blind eye to the needs of the people ever since the pandemic began. We have disseminated billions of public funds to assist our kababayans (countrymen). Alam po ng ating pamahalaan ang kaukulang tulong kapag naghihigpit ng Alert Level para sa kabutihan ng nakararami (Our government is aware what the appropriate assistance is needed if the strict alert level is imposed for the good of the majority),’’ Malaya pointed out.
The national government’s latest allotment for aid amid the pandemic was a total of P11.2-billion of cash assistance giving P1,000 per low-income individual with a maximum of P4,000 per low-income family affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) on August 6-20, 2021.