FORMER Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano has underscored the importance for
government officials to show a good example by listening to experts’
perspectives and acquire enough knowledge regarding the coronavirus
disease-19 (COVID-19) vaccines through non-confrontational hearings if
they are to convince the people to get vaccinated.
“I speak to myself as much as I speak to you. Find a consensus rather
than find someone to fight,” Cayetano told fellow lawmakers and
members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) during Taguig City’s
COVID-19 Vaccination Dry Run held at the Lakeshore Mega Complex
recently.
“Mahigit kalahati po, ‘pag inisa-isa namin, ayaw magpabakuna. Bakit
po? Because we’re setting a bad example,” Cayetano said, citing his
interaction with barangay health workers who have expressed reluctance
to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Today, we are here to fight something, not someone: COVID-19. But
we’re also here to build a consensus by showing our people that
despite all the apprehension, there is a system that can be placed in
the pipeline,” Cayetano said.
Cayetano has been pushing for a comprehensive, clear, and transparent
vaccination plan understandable to ordinary Filipinos.
“If we say that mag-isa tayo, magkakasama tayo, we heal as one, we win
as one, we recover as one…[let’s] change our mindset,” he said.
Present during the dry run were Philippine COVID-19 Vaccination Czar
and Chief Implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19
Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr.; Deputy Chief Implementer Secretary
Vince Dizon; Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III;
National Center for Disease Prevention and Control Program Manager Dr.
Jose Gerard B. Belimac; Metro Manila Development Authority General
Manager Jojo Garcia; and DILG Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco V.
Densing III.
The former Speaker, who has been visiting different barangays in the
past three months to donate basic goods to front-liners, also
encouraged the Filipinos to have a change in behavior as the country
tries to control the spread of the coronavirus and prevent its further
negative impact on the economy.
The City Government of Taguig has started its massive information
campaign to address challenges such as hesitancy of its constituents
to be vaccinated, the preference of some for certain brands of
vaccines, and apprehensions on the possibility of adverse reactions.
The Taguig LGU has also prepared five mega vaccination centers and
more than 40 community vaccination centers in a bid to vaccinate all
its citizens for free.
