The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Wednesday said local chief executives who were slow in distributing Covid-19 vaccines in their jurisdictions would be held liable.
In a Laging Handa briefing, Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said neglect of duty or misconduct charges could be filed against these officials.
“[A]ng ating mga local chief executives at kanilang mga department heads na magpapabaya or indifferent or mayroon pong unjustified failure para i-ramp up ang pagbabakuna sa kanilang mga lugar o kaya naman nasiraan ng bakuna ‘no, na nagkaroon ng vaccine wastage ay puwede pong maharap sa mga [kaso],” he said.
Malaya said the DILG had the power to suspend erring officials and file charges against them.
“Puwede po silang masuspinde o kaya naman matanggal sa serbisyo kung mapapatunayan pong nagkaroon sila ng mga kasong ito, kung mapapatunayan po na lumabag sila sa ating Local Government Code at iba pang mga batas,” he said.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año also urged local chief executives to intensify vaccination efforts in their jurisdictions to help the country achieve the 70-percent nationwide vaccination threshold by yearend.
“Now that we have around 40 million doses sent to the provinces, we need to immediately jab these vaccines to the general population; thus we need the LGUs to double their efforts…Let’s have a truly Merry Christmas this year,” he said.
As of Oct. 24, 55.71 million doses have been administered in the Philippines, of which 30 million were used as first doses and 25.71 million as second doses. John Ezekiel J. Hirro