BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental yesterday expressed support to the mandatory coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination among government workers.
“As long as it is legal, I prefer that they make it mandatory,” Lacson said.
The governor said, currently, the only issue is the scheme’s legality.
However, Lacson said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has given local chief executives the power to give orders with regards to the mandatory inoculation.
Lacson was reacting to the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) national president and Marinduque’s Gov. Presbitero Velasco Jr.’s openness for the mandatory vaccination.
However, according to Velasco, lawmakers must also take into consideration the right to health, religious beliefs and right to informed consent of constituents prior to pushing the proposal.
Velasco also advised local government units to give vaccination incentives so as to encourage more people to get inoculated.
Earlier this week, Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III said it is currently illegal to implement a “no vaccine, no work” policy./PN
