ILIGAN City ― The hearing at a regional trial court here regarding the implementation of an order requiring vaccination card presentation in practically all aspects of life here Monday.
Lawyer Leo Zaragoza said that he attended the hearing. The hearing, to note, is whether the implementation of the executive order is legal or not. This is led by Prof. Godofredo Dimamay.
Lawyer for the petitioners, it was learned is Atty. Samson Dajao is a former city prosecutor. The petition is for the suspension of the implementation of E.O. 291 signed by city mayor Celso G. Regencia on Nov. 9 and effective on Nov. 16.
Dajao, it was learned from Zaragoza, pointed out to the court that the said Order required the presentation of vaccination cards in practically all aspects of city life here.
Under the said order Drivers could not ply their jeeps or other vehicles without vaccine cards even as commuters too should not ride these public vehicles without presenting their vaccination cards, even for one dose only. Those who are selling their goods in the markets should not do so without their cards. People should not make transactions with government offices without these cards.
If they cannot present such, they should present results of negative RT-PCR results.
The people panicked then flocked the vaccination sites and lined up for hours and disregarded social distance protocols
Among the arguments of Dajao was that the said order is “unconstitutional” citing the still “experimental nature” of these vaccines even as RA 11525 states that “vaccines cards shall not be considered as an additional mandatory requirement for educational, employment and other similar government transactions.”
Caocao Badelles, however, as narrated by Zaragoza, told the court that “there is no mandatory provision” in the said EO as a “memo” on the said matter said only to “prioritize” those who have vaccine cards.
Zaragoza then enjoined people who had been prevented from doing their tasks by the police to show themselves to lawyer Dajao so that the court will be guided accordingly in the next hearing.
He also said that a memo should “not change” the tenor of order even comparing it to water, “that the water falling from a source should not be higher than the source.”
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