ILOILO City – The Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) warned people against using or manufacturing fake coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination cards.
Those caught with fake vaccination cards will be charged with falsification of public document, according to Police Brigadier General Flynn Dongbo, Western Visayas police director.
Business establishments here such as malls have started requiring shoppers to present COVID-19 vaccination cards as proof that they have been inoculated.
Those that fail to present their vaccination cards are turned away.
“So far wala pa tayong nahuli na counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards or mga taong gumagawa ng fake na cards. But I’m issuing this warning: huwag na mag-attempt na gugawa ng fake cards kasi talagang sa kulungan patutunguhan nila. May nahuli na kasi sa ibang lugar,” Dongbo said.
The city government urged business establishments here to be stricter with clients by requiring them vaccination cards after the Inter-Agency Task Force placed the metro under pandemic Alert Level 3 due to rising COVID-19 infections.
The Office of the City Mayor is proposing a regulation ordinance restricting the movement of those still unvaccinated against COVID-19.
The proposed ordinance has a provision requiring individuals entering establishments in Iloilo City to present their COVID-19 vaccination cards plus identification cards.
Under Article 171 in relation to Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code, the crime of falsification of document may be committed, among other things, by counterfeiting or imitating any handwriting, signature or rubric or causing it to appear that persons have participated in an act or proceeding when they did not in fact so participate.
The penalty for the crime of falsification is imprisonment of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods and a fine of not more than P5,000.
The imprisonment that is imposed for a period ranges from two years, four months and one day to six years.
Dongbo said security guards of business establishments checking vaccination cards must be very sharp.
“Medyo mahirap mag-determine na ang card ay fake or not kasi ballpen lang ang ginagamit,” he said.
There’s a suggestion that aside from the COVID-19 vaccination card, persons must also be required to present a valid identification card.
“The public should remember na ang ginagawa ng gobyerno ay para rin sa health nila,” Dongbo said.
Human rights group Panay Alliance Karapatan described the mobility restriction on citizens not vaccinated against COVID-19 as unreasonable, repressive and harmful.
“At the very least it is a violation of the right to freedom from discrimination,” said Reylan Vergara, secretary general of Panay Alliance Karapatan.
The mobility restriction, according to Vergara, has no logic, averring that COVID-19 vaccines could not prevent a contagion and that not only the unvaccinated but also the vaccinated could still be infected.
He was referring to “breakthrough infections” – infections that happen when fully vaccinated persons still get infected with COVID-19.
“It is, therefore, wrong to conclude that the unvaccinated are a threat,” said Vergara.
The movement restriction is discriminatory, he asserted./PN
