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MANILA – Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Wednesday defended the use of schools as Covid-19 vaccination sites, stressing that the use of existing structures would save the government time from having to build new ones.
This, after the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), an alliance of student councils, said the use of schools as vaccination centers bared the "failed" response of the government to the pandemic.
“Parang hindi ko yata makita naman yung rationale ng NUSP dahil binabanatan ang pamahalaan bakit daw pinapagamit yung mga eskuwelahan. E ano naman gusto gawin niyo, e hindi naman ginagamit? (I don’t see the rationale of NUSP why they’re criticizing the government for using schools. What do you want to do, they’re not being used)? You might as well make it useful” he said in his online commentary show “Counterpoint.”
Panelo pointed out that school facilities are currently not being used since face-to-face classes remain suspended amid the prevailing pandemic.
“Hindi ka na kailangan magtayo, dati nang nakatayo. Magtatayo ka pa, di’y matagal pa ‘yun (We don’t have to build new facilities because they’re available. If we build new ones, that would take time),” he added.
He also shrugged off calls made by the NUSP to provide medical, instead of a militaristic approach to the pandemic.
“Hindi totoo yung militaristic approach (It’s not true that the government is implementing a militaristic approach to the pandemic),” he said.
Panelo said the NUSP seemed to believe members of the opposition who branded the government’s response to the pandemic as militaristic because the government’s pandemic response managers were former military officials.
He said ex-generals who are members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) as well as Cabinet members were experts in terms of logistics and other matters necessary to ensure the speedy procurement and rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.
The NUSP, he said, simply criticized the government because it is against the Duterte administration.
“Anti-Duterte lang kasi ito e kaya kung anong puwedeng makita nilang maitatapon, maipupula, gagawin nila (They're just ani-Duterte that's why they're doing everything they can to find faults),” he said.
In March, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairperson Prospero De Vera III encouraged higher education institutions to help in the government’s vaccination drive by offering the use of their facilities.
CHED earlier allowed 24 HEIs nationwide to hold limited face-to-face classes effective the second semester of Academic Year 2020-2021.
NUSP said instead of using schools as vaccination sites, the government should be set on “thinking about how to fulfill the requisites for the gradual and safe resumption of physical classes, so that the students of colleges who are allowed to conduct limited face-to-face classes will not have their safety compromised.”
Meanwhile, Panelo also expressed support for the decision of Senator Sherwin "Win" Gatchalian, to reject students' call for a nationwide academic break.
“I agree with you Senator Win. Dapat hayaaan nalang natin yung mga nakakaalam diyan. Sila na lang ang mag desisyon niyan (We should allow those who are in better position to make the decision),” he said.
Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on basic education, said the academic freeze cannot be implemented as areas have different Covid-19 situations.
He also warned of the “exacerbated effects” linked to prolonged school closures such as learning loss, widening inequalities, and increased exposure to violence. (PNA)
