Iligan mayor stands firm in move to require booster shots

ILIGAN, Philippines – The choice is simple in Iligan: show proof of booster shots or test results that one is not infected with COVID-19 before entering an establishment.

Iligan Mayor Frederick Siao stood firm in his decision to make establishments require people and their workers to get boosted or tested for COVID-19 first before they are allowed entry.

He said this following a furor over his Executive Order 37-2022 that provided that “all establishments of Iligan City and employees found therein shall be fully vaccinated with booster dose from COVID-19 vaccine.”

Siao signed the executive order on September 23, but city hall started implementing it barely a week after the city government allowed thousands to gather in the streets of downtown Iligan for the city’s fiesta parades and other events.

“I stand firm in my decision,” Siao said on Wednesday, October 5, after his EO was booed by mostly COVID-19 vaccination-hesitant groups in the city.

He said the executive order “enjoined” establishments to implement the proactive measure in line with the Department of Health’s campaign to make more vaccinated people seek booster shots.

“We follow their mandate not only because it is our duty to do so but because every person’s fundamental right to be protected and to feel safe in our city should be respected,” Siao told Rappler.

But he pointed out that the EO left the “non-compliant” and vaccination-hesitant another choice: get tested every 15 days and show establishments the results.

Based on Siao’s order, the results of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests may be accepted by establishments only 72 hours after these are done.

Siao said the option to get vaccinated or not “is equally respected.”

“We are enjoining individuals to get the booster doses. The choice is theirs…. We ensure the citizens of Iligan that every act of this administration is for the benefit and welfare of the general public and every person’s choice will be validated,” he added.

Siao’s EO was greeted with a deluge of criticisms even on city hall’s Facebook page where the announcement of the policy was made.

The critics were mostly those who expressed distrust toward COVID-19 vaccines such as Iliganon school worker Liezel Daberao, who called Siao’s EO unconstitutional and a violation of constitutional rights.

Daberao said: “I’m not a lawyer, but I know that only people who are not aware of their rights will be bothered by this EO. Can this EO supersede the Constitution?” – Rappler.com