Article by:
Perla Lena
ILOILO CITY – The local government here is mulling a regulation ordinance limiting the movement of unvaccinated persons here.
“The mayor is yet to endorse a call for the Sangguniang Panlungsod to enact appropriate legislative measure, which is through an ordinance. This is actually spurred by the recent adoption of LGUs (local government units) in Manila regulating the mobility of (the) unvaccinated population,” lawyer Fydah Sabando of the City Mayor’s Office (CMO) legal team said in a virtual press conference on Monday.
Sabando said should the proposal be welcomed by the SP, it will only take effect under the Alert Level 3 status or higher signalling the increasing positivity rate of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the city.
However, she said the ordinance will not serve as a “blanket denial of access to essential services and essential operations” because it will also take into account the reasons of those eligible unvaccinated individuals.
“In a nutshell, we are restricting the mobility of unvaccinated individuals but they are given access to essential services, basic services provided by the provincial government, for medical purposes and other similar circumstances,” added lawyer Peter Mallari, also of the CMO legal team.
Mallari said the city government is looking into prohibiting them from dining in, or going into restaurants under dining set up or al fresco as a way of encouraging them to get vaccinated.
It is also considering putting in provisions that will require the mandatory presentation of vaccination cards and identification cards in all establishments in the city, he said.
It will have a penal provision to be imposed against those who will attempt to fake their vaccination cards.
Mallari said the vaccination rollout will remain unhampered even if the city remains under Alert Level 3.
“We encourage residents to get booster shots at least three months after their second dose. We are highly encouraging most especially the unvaccinated individuals to get vaccine(s) as soon as possible,” he added.
Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, Iloilo City focal person for Covid-19, in the same press conference reiterated the call for the unvaccinated to submit to inoculation as cases in the city continue to rise.
From January 1 to 9, the city already has 326 cases –216 are local cases, 10 are returning overseas Filipinos (ROFs), 30 are Authorized Persons Outside Residence (APORs), and 70 are returning residents.
He said compared with the first nine days of December last year, cases this January increased by 1,100 percent.
This year’s positive cases rose by over 300 percent compared to the same period last year, he added.
Fortuna said if the coronavirus cases continue rising, there is a possibility that it could reach the last October figure where the daily average case was tallied at 34. (PNA)
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