OUR APPEAL to the police officers and barangay officials is that they exercise restraint and not unduly obstruct the movement of people to and from their homes.
There is no legal basis or medical purpose for imposing restrictions on unvaccinated citizens, thus restricting them in their homes is a violation of their rights and freedoms.
Prohibiting the unvaccinated from leaving their homes is tantamount to detention without due process for which the law enforcer involved is liable before existing laws and administrative procedures. It is a form of discrimination against persons, also devoid of any justification and thus contrary to existing laws.
It should be taken into consideration that many of those unvaccinated have not been inoculated because of the failure of the government to provide the needed vaccine doses. They would be victims of discrimination not on account of their fault but of the government’s failure, thus a big injustice to them.
Instead, the government should do its best to inform its citizens of the pros and cons of getting the vaccine and let them decide for themselves, not coerced them.
As for those who are hesitant to get vaccinated, they have reasons to do so because of the lack of information on the adverse effects of the vaccine. As such, the personal choice not be vaccinated is justified and remains an inherent right of an individual which should not to be derogated despite the health crisis.
The Department of Health (DOH) also made it clear that getting vaccinated is voluntary, thus it is unreasonable for Duterte to threaten citizens with the prohibition of movement.
We call on authorities to evolve better solutions to this health crisis. It has been a year and five months since the start of the pandemic, yet the country is stuck on lockdowns, curfew, and liquor ban which are ineffective as evidenced by the rising number of cases. Imposing discriminatory restrictions is no way to do it. – REYLAN VERGARA, secretary general, Panay Alliance Karapatan
