Only 12% of 4Ps households are vaccinated —DILG, DSWD

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Monday that its “no vaccine, no subsidy” proposal stemmed from the demand of the mayors to help boost the vaccination drive in their own areas, noting that only 12% of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) households have been inoculated.

DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya explained that it is the local government units (LGUs) that initially proposed the idea as they have been implementing several strategies and programs to encourage people to get their jabs such as the Bakuna sa Barangay and Bakuna Benefits as part of the ‘Ingat Angat’ campaign.

However, some regions and provinces, particularly those outside of Metro Manila, still show slow mobilization and administration of vaccines.

"This is not just a DILG proposal, this is actually a result of the clamor of our local government units for a help from the DILG to have some sort of disincentive on the part of 4Ps beneficiaries because malaki din itong lahat ano, we’re talking about four million,” Malaya said in a CNN Philippines interview.

There are 4.4 million households registered under the conditional cash transfer program. If there is an average of four members in a family, around 18 million individuals benefit from this.

Malaya earlier said that many 4Ps beneficiaries still refuse to get their jabs against the COVID-19. As a solution, the agency is proposing to “disincentivize” those who are still unvaccinated.

He said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has been conducting monthly family development session and encouraging the 4Ps beneficiaries to get vaccinated. However, with the low vaccination rate among the recipients, DILG needed to look for other ways to ramp up the inoculation.

“This is really a [large] number of our population that needs to get vaccinated and we are running out of time. Our target is to have population protection by the end of the year and we’re also targeting a million vaccinees per day,” Malaya said.

Asked if this is constitutional as there is no condition on the Republic Act 11310 or the “4Ps Law” stating that the recipients need to be vaccinated to get benefits, Malaya said that they will defer to the Office of the President, DSWD, and Department of Justice (DOJ) on the legalities of their proposal.

Several senators have already expressed their concerns over this proposal, saying that the government should double its efforts to encourage and educate the public on getting vaccinated instead of making it mandatory.

In a Palace briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said mandating COVID-19 vaccination for 4Ps beneficiaries would need an amendment to an existing law.

"The reason for requiring COVID-19 vaccination is valid, pero sa tingin ko, requiring vaccination para sa mga tumatanggap ng 4Ps, kinakailangan na amyendahan ang batas (I think the law should be amended first before it can be made possible)," he said.

"The 4Ps is not an executive program but is provided for by law," he added—Giselle Ombay/AOL, GMA News