DILG sees no liablity for Mark Anthony, other commonfolk who jumped vaccine line

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Thursday said cannot see any potential liability on the part of ordinary people who jumped the line in the COVID-19 vaccination program.

At the Laging Handa briefing, DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said he consulted the matter to the legal team of the department.

“Yung mga sumingit kagaya ni Mark Anthony Fernandez, wala sa priority list pero nakasingit, as of this time, wala ho kaming nakikitang potential liability,” Densing said.

[For those who will jumped the line like Mark Anthony Fernandez, who is not in the priority list managed to get the vaccine, as of this time, we cannot see potential liability.]

He pointed out that only authorities who would allow this to happen will be liable.

However, Densing encouraged the public to follow the program and let the prioritized sectors receive the jab first.

A court will issue a show cause order on Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez over the vaccination of Fernandez, who received the job ahead of the prioritized sectors.

Densing said the actor is not included in the priority list of the government in the inoculation rollout.

As of Tuesday, Densing said the DILG has issued show cause orders to five mayors for receiving the COVID-19 vaccines ahead of the prioritized sectors.

Olivarez said Fernandez received the jab because he was a substitute on standby, and that almost all the frontline healthcare workers in the city already received the vaccine.

He said Fernandez has comorbidities. Citing the information from the screening conducted by the city health office, the mayor said the actor is hypertensive and suffering from depression.

Based on the prioritization set by the national government, the vaccination rollout in the country will start with frontline health workers, then followed by indigent senior citizens, those suffering from comorbidities, remaining senior citizens, remaining indigent population, and uniformed personnel. -NB, GMA News