Malacañang: “We respect the opinion of Mayor Inday Sara Duterte. On the other hand, …”
MALACAÑANG — Here’s what the Palace said about Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s opposing view on unvaxxed individuals.
For weeks now, President Rodrigo Duterte had been pitching for the restricted movement of unvaxxed individuals, saying that they should remain at home in order to avoid infecting others of COVID-19.
The President said that it’s up to the barangay chiefs to determine who the unvaxxed individuals are in their respective jurisdictions and to ensure that they didn’t leave home.
“In the absence of a law, the President is called upon to act and because it is a national emergency, it is my position that we can restrain,” President Duterte said.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles earlier reckoned that this instruction from the President was nationwide in scope regardless of the alert level.
READ ALSO: Malacañang Says Duterte Order vs Unvaxxed Applicable Nationwide Regardless Of Alert Level
However, Mayor Sara opposed her father’s directive, saying that unvaccinated individuals shouldn’t be discriminated against COVID-19.
Mayor Sara said in an interview over Davao City Disaster Radio on Monday that the government didn’t make vaccination mandatory, as such, people were given a choice to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or not.
“I am pro-vaccination and boosters but in this case, I cannot agree with the exclusion or restriction of unvaccinated… they were given the freedom to choose,” Mayor Sara said.
The Davao City mayor also said that she’ll leave it up to business owners and heads of government offices in the city to decide whether or not to restrict the entry of unvaxxed individuals.
Nograles, who was also the acting Presidential Spokesperson, said during the Presidential press briefing on Tuesday that the Palace respected the opinion of Mayor Sara when it comes to the non-discrimination of unvaxxed individuals against COVID-19.
He also stressed that as the father of the nation, President Duterte was only trying to protect the unvaccinated individuals and this was “for the common good”.
“Yes, of course, we respect the opinion of Mayor Inday Sara Duterte,” Nograles said when asked to react to Mayor Sara’s statements. “On the other hand, the President is only trying to protect the unvaccinated from harm.”
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