DILG orders barangays to conduct inventory of unvaxxed persons

MANILA – All barangays have been ordered to submit an inventory of unvaccinated persons in their localities, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Wednesday.

“To ensure that we have correct data on unvaccinated persons, Secretary (Eduardo) Año issued a memorandum circular to conduct an inventory to all barangays throughout the country to identify those who have not yet vaccinated in their barangays in line with the pronouncement of the President (Rodrigo Duterte) to restrain or restrict the movement of our unvaccinated individuals. It all starts with an inventory and then when we have an inventory, the LGU (local government units) will implement through an ordinance the restrictions on the movement of unvaccinated persons,” Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said in a television interview.

Malaya also said barangay officials have to prepare the inventory “on a monthly basis” and submit this to the DILG field office in their area.

“The second step is to closely monitor the mobility of the persons who are not yet vaccinated and to advise them to stay at home,” he said.

As village officials, Malaya said they have “the authority to implement our laws”, including the President’s directives for them to courteously request unvaccinated persons to remain home.

In a Laging Handa briefing, Malaya said they also expect all 17 LGUs of Metro Manila to pass their ordinances on the restricted mobility of the unvaccinated individuals in the coming days.

Currently, only three cities — Makati, Navotas and Pasig — have yet to submit copies of these ordinances.

“Based on the report from the DILG NCR, there are already ordinances in the council of Navotas, Makati, and Pasig but these have not been approved yet. In other words, it is under deliberation by the city councils and we expect that in the next few days, it will be passed. This is because the decision of all the mayors of Metro Manila was unanimous that they will push for mobility restrictions against unvaccinated,” he added.

Malaya, however, said the government is exerting all efforts to encourage vaccination through localized information dissemination by influencers such as local officials and medical experts.

“We also have town hall meetings where we have an expert invited such as a doctor from Philippine Medical Association, the allied medical professions and we also do outreach activities here in the communities to convey our message to them that they need to get vaccinated,” Malaya explained.

Malaya, meanwhile, said many areas outside the NCR have also started passing their respective ordinances on keeping the unvaccinated people indoors.

“I will not be surprised if the provinces will also pass similar ordinances because the League of Provinces of the Philippines has already passed under the leadership of (Marinduque) Governor Presbitero Velasco of the resolution where they are also encouraging their members, the member provinces to pass such an ordinance so when there are ordinances this will now serve as the guidelines of the barangays and the PNP in the implementation of the directive of our president to restrict the mobility of the unvaccinated,” he explained.

Malaya noted that the ordinances passed by the Metro Manila LGUs “have very specific provisions on what things can be done and cannot be done with respect to unvaccinated individuals in every LGU.’’

“So the PIO (public information office) of each LGU, they are doing this job of informing their constituents on what are the allowable and non-allowable actions by unvaccinated people,’’ Malaya stressed.

Under the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) resolution, unvaccinated individuals are mandated to remain in their residences at all times except for the procurement of essential goods and services, such as food, water, medical services, public utilities, and work.