By Modesto P. Sa-onoy
There is a new campaign against the proposed mandatory vaccination of Filipinos contained in Senate Bill 2057 which President Duterte has certified as urgent. This means that the subservient House of Representatives will most likely agree with whatever the senators will decide.
This is a draconian measure that violates the liberties of the people under the guise of protecting them from the coronavirus through a vaccine that is still experimental, approved only for emergency use, and whose long term effect has not yet been determined.
The group of protestors belong to the Movement for a Covid-Free Philippines. Atty. Lyndon Caña has drafted the petition of the Movement to urge the Senate to remove the provision that mandates the vaccination of all citizens and the requirement of a vaccine passport without which a person can be denied his basic liberties guaranteed by our Constitution.
Let me cite the portions objected to and the reasons for the objection.
While the movement is not opposed to vaccination per se or the right of people to be vaccinated they are opposed to provision mandating a “Vaccine Passport Program” provided in Section 11 of the bill. It provides that “Subject to the provisions of Republic Act No. 10173 or the “Data Privacy Act of 2012”, the DOH shall issue a vaccine passport to all Filipinos, which shall be a record of the Covid-19 vaccinations received by an individual.”
That’s awful and it continues to say that ”Individuals who have completed Covid-19 immunization may be granted certain benefits or exemptions, subject to guidelines issued by the lATF, which shall be clearly stated in the individual’s vaccine passport, such as but not limited to: (a) International travel, as may be allowed in foreign jurisdictions; (b) Non-essential domestic travel; (c) Local checkpoint and quarantine exemptions; and (d) Access to business establishments allowed to operate based on lATF guidelines.”
While the proposed law mandates the vaccination passport for “all Filipinos” (no exemptions) the proposal admits the defect of the vaccine when it said, “individuals vaccinated against Covid-19 as indicated in the vaccine passport shall not be considered immune from Covid-19, unless otherwise declared by the DOH based on reliable scientific evidence and consensus.”
But why force everybody to be vaccinated with a drug that does not stop the virus or render the vaccinated immune? Is this not crazy, expensive and totalitarian? Are we still a democracy or are these senators going to stay in power ad infinitum as to deny the people their right of make a choice? In the event they ran for office, any office again, remember them and junk them and campaign to junk them.
Let us go to the reasons for the opposition by the Movement that is “alarmed” by these anti-people measure.
First, the movement says the proposal “constitutes class legislation and discriminates against those who choose not to be vaccinated.
“While the language of the said section of the Bill uses the word “may” in the grant of certain benefits or exemptions to holders of the vaccine passport, (meaning it is not mandatory supposed to be), it nonetheless gives the Executive branch of government the option to make it mandatory subject to IATF guidelines, thereby making holders of vaccine passports enjoy certain rights that will not be made available to those who do not elect to be vaccinated, such as the right to travel, access to business establishments, et cetera.
“Effectively it creates two classes of citizens in the Philippines: the vaccine passport holders on the one hand and the non-vaccine passport holders, making the former first class of the country and the latter second class only.”
What happens to children and seniors and those with health problems that would be killed by this experimental vaccine? What will become of them if denied their basic liberties because they refuse to be given a death sentence via the defective vaccine? Will they be stopped in every checkpoint? How can they go out to buy their medicines or enter the hospital?
Is it not ridiculous that a vaccinated person will be exempted from checkpoints and quarantine when the vaccine he had been injected with does not guarantee his immunity and can infect others?
Continued tomorrow.
