By Deighton Acuin

PHOTO: PCOO

President Rodrigo Duterte should not be blamed over the vaccination chaos that reportedly happened in Metro Manila due to the circulated information that there will be no cash aid if the individuals are unvaccinated amid the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), said Malacañang.

Duterte, during his weekly “Talk to the People '' program, threatened the people who are unvaccinated to stay inside their homes.



“Now ito ngayong ayaw magpabakuna, sinasabi ko sa inyo huwag kayong lumabas ng bahay kasi ‘pag lumabas kayo ng bahay, sabihin ko sa mga pulis eh ibalik ka doon sa bahay mo. You will be escorted back to your house because you are a walking spreader,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, during a media briefing on Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque denied such accusations, saying “fake news” peddlers should be held accountable for the  said incident.

“I don’t think so. Tingin ko may mga nagpapakalat talaga ng fake news, mayroon talagang walang matinong ginagawa sa buhay nila,” Roque said.

He then clarified that everyone can go outside their homes amid the strictest quarantine measures, as long as it will only be meant for availing essential goods and services or if a certain individual was an authorized person outside the residence (APOR).



“There are no mandates that unvaccinated people are not eligible for receiving cash and other government aid,” Roque said.

As of Thursday, August 5, the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,627,816 total COVID-19 cases, with 1,532,494 recoveries and 28,427 mortalities.

According to the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC), the country has also administered 21,912,142 COVID-19 vaccine doses as of August 3, with 12,063,569 individuals having already received the first dose and 9,838,573 of them were “fully vaccinated.”