Panelo contradicts Roque, Guevarra: No new law needed to arrest vaccine deniers
Panelo contradicts Roque, Guevarra: No new law needed to arrest vaccine deniers
June 23, 2021
By Pia Ranada
President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief legal counsel again departs from the legal opinions of other lawyers in the Cabinet
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo again departed from the views of other lawyers advising President Rodrigo Duterte, this time saying that no new law is required to arrest of persons refusing COVID-19 vaccination.
“Constitutional provisions on public health, by themselves, are operative and need no subsequent legislation for their enforcement,” Panelo said in a statement on Wednesday, June 23.
He then cited parts of the 1987 Constitution as supposed legal basis for criminalizing vaccine refusal. But the provisions he cited are catch-all phrases that don’t say refusing vaccines is a crime or that vaccination should be mandatory.
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