The Department of Health (DOH) reiterated its stance that individuals who are positive for Covid-19 on election day must stay in isolation.
In a statement, the DOH said it "does not and will not stop any Filipino from exercising their constitutional right to vote for our country's leaders this coming election."
"However, individuals who are positive with Covid-19 should strongly refrain from going outside and remain in isolation while recovering, as required in DOH Department Memorandum 2022-0013 or the updated guidelines of isolation and quarantine for Covid-19 response and case management," it said on Thursday, April 28.
The DOH also cited Republic Act No. 11332 or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.
"The law is clear and provides for measures to quickly stop the spread of any infectious disease. Republic Act No. 11332 vests upon the DOH and its local counterparts authority to enforce rapid containment, quarantine and isolation, and disease prevention and control measures," it said.
"The same statute prohibits and penalizes non-cooperation of those affected by a health event of public concern, of which the current pandemic is an example," it added.
Based on the law, individuals or entity who are found to have violated the law "shall be penalized with a fine of not less than ₱20,000 but not more than ₱50,000 or imprisonment of not less than one month but not more than six months, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the proper court."
The DOH issued the statement after Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia said Covid-19 patients can still vote as long as they are allowed to get out of their isolation facilities.
On April 22, DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III advised Covid-19 patients and those with symptoms on election day to remain in isolation in order to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus.
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DOH urges Covid-19 patients, symptomatics to isolate on Election day