The League of Municipalities of the Philippines has appealed to President Rodrigo Dutete to include local chief executives in the priority list for COVID-19 vaccination.
“Mayors are active frontliners taking the lead in ensuring the health and medical wellbeing of their constituents,” said LMP national president and Narvacan, Ilocos Sur Mayor Luis Singson in his letter to Duterte.
“They also supervise social amelioration programs and the distribution of relief goods to affected constituents and in overseeing the functionality of the local IATFs, including the operations of isolation facilities and the municipality’s Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities as mandated by the national government,” Singson added.
Duterte earlier approved the classification of governors and mayors as frontliners, but only those in areas considered as “high risk.”
National Task Force Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon said of the 1,700 governors and mayors across the country, 400 are in high risk and critical areas, including those in the NCR Plus bubble.
“If this was war, they are our commanders in the frontlines. They need to be protected,” Dizon said.
Singson noted how mayors and other local leaders have contracted the disease, sometimes more than once, in the course of doing public service.
“Mayors first and foremost must ensure that they are strong and healthy to protect their people and fight for them. People rely on their chief executives to safeguard their communities. A COVID-infected mayor is tantamount to a disruption in the management of COVID-response in the locality, thus this appeal to include our mayors in the vaccination priority list,” he said.
“The reality on the ground demands the urgency of vaccinating our local chief executives. During this pandemic, our mayors never stop working 24/7, exposing themselves and their families to the dangers of COVID,” Singson added.
The League of Cities of the Philippines also sent a separate letter to Duterte seeking the inclusion of local chief executives in the top vaccine priority group.