ILOILO City – There’s nothing wrong with this southern city sharing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines to other local government units (LGUs), according to National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Secretary Vince Dizon.
Mayor Jerry Treñas sought the taskforce’s opinion, saying some questioned the move.
“Nothing illegal at all, Mayor. You should be praised for donating the doses. We’ll keep on sending to you,” Dizon said.
Particularly, this city donated 2,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to the LGUs under the Metro-Iloilo Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC).
These included the Iloilo towns of Leganes, Oton, Pavia, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, and Cabatuan; and Guimaras provincial government and towns of Buenavista, Jordan, Nueva Valencia, San Lorenzo, and Sibunag.
The towns of Concepcion, Barotac Viejo, Banate, Anilao, and Leon also received free jabs.
Treñas said the city utilizes Pfizer and Moderna vaccines from the national government.
“We need to help the other LGUs protect their seniors and those with comorbidities,” said Treñas.
He said if there’s anything illegal in the city helping its neighboring municipalities and Guimaras, he is ready to go to jail.
“Public service is helping one another, doing our best to give protection to our fellow Ilonggos. If I am not allowed to do it under the law, if I have done something illegal, if I have done something immoral, then so be it. I submit myself to our authorities so that I will be brought to jail,” he said.
Concepcion, Iloilo’s Mayor Raul Banias backed Treñas.
“We can only be safe from COVID-19 if everybody is vaccinated. If the city has a high vaccination rate but the municipalities’ vaccination percentage is low, we can’t be safe at all,” said Banias, a physician.
“Inversely many of our index cases traced their infections from health facilities in the city (clinic, dialysis centers, laboratories, hospitals). As public officials we have responsibilities to protect our people,” he added./PN
