Malacañang has confirmed that the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has asked a Quezon City court to dismiss the petition to stop the vaccination against COVID-19 of children ages five to 11.
In his press briefing on Friday, February 18, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that the OSG represented the Department of Health (DOH) in the plea of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) before the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City Branch 96 to halt the implementation of the pediatric vaccination.
"As I know it, OSG naman po ang abogado ng mga ahensiya ng gobyerno (the OSG is the lawyer of all government agencies)," he said.
", in this case, represented the Department of Health in cases filed by some petitioners against pediatric vaccination," he added.
According to Nograles, the petitioners were alleging that the guidelines of the DOH that allow the government to override the decision of parents who refuse to have their kids vaccinated due to "parens patriae" or "father of the nation".
Parens patriae refers to the policy power of the state to act as the parent of any child, individual, or animal who is in need of protection.
"I believe ang hinihingi na action (the desired action of the petitioners) is certiorari, prohibition, and injunction. Tapos nag-apply pa ng TRO (They even applied for a temporary restraining order)," Nograles said.
The acting Palace spokesman said that this provision was already amended.
"That has been already amended. Isa po ito sa mga minanifest (It was manifested) during the hearings," he said.
Data from the National COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center showed that as of February 17, a total of 329,285 children ages five to 11 have already received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.