Arresting unvaccinated individuals may be illegal, violate human rights — CHR

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Saturday said arresting unvaccinated individuals may be illegal and could violate human rights.

CHR spokesperson lawyer Jacqueline Ann de Guia issued the statement in reaction to the order to arrest unvaccinated individuals who violate the “stay-at-home” restrictions of the government.

“While the 1987 Constitution provides that liberty of movement can be restricted in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health, it still requires a law to make the said restriction legal,” De Guia said in a statement.

De Guia noted that currently there is no law that makes being unvaccinated a crime, adding that “nor is there any law that would satisfy the Constitutional provision on curtailing freedom of movement.”

“Any arrest made on these grounds may be illegal; thus, violative of the Constitution and our guaranteed human rights,” she underscored.

The CHR spokesperson said any arrest without warrant goes against the guarantees of due process in the Constitution.

She, however, noted that warrantless arrests can only be made under certain exemptions, including in flagrante delicto (in the act of committing/attempting to commit/has committed a crime) arrests, “hot pursuit” arrests, and re-arrest of escaped prisoners.

De Guia underscored that the present directive to arrest unvaccinated individuals “on-the-spot” does not satisfy the mentioned exemptions, adding that there is “no crime being committed.”

“We continue to stress the parameters of acceptable justifications detailed under the Siracusa Principles for the restriction of rights as a response to the present pandemic — that, among others, it must be legal, necessary, proportional, non-discriminatory, and should not be abused,” she said.

“Government should also contemplate the repercussions of such a directive considering that our jails and other detention facilities are already congested, which may further worsen transmission of Covid-19,” she added.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday ordered barangay officials to direct persons yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to stay at home amid the steep spike in cases believed driven by the Omicron variant.

He said barangay chairpersons could arrest unvaccinated persons if they refused to cooperate.

The Philippines on Saturday recorded 26,458 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily tally since the start of pandemic, bringing the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 2,936,875.   -- Richa Noriega/BAP, GMA News