Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 13) — The Supreme Court has dismissed petitions challenging the constitutionality of several regulations on COVID-19 issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The ruling also covers regulations issued by the local government units and some government offices with regards to the management of the health crisis.
The high court said the petitions were filed in the wrong court.
\”The Court held that petitions were dismissible for violating the doctrine of hierarchy of courts as the resolution of the issues raised therein required the determination and adjudication of extremely technical and scientific facts that necessitates the conduct of a full-blown proceeding before a court of first instance,\” the SC said in a statement.
The consolidated petitions questioned the guidelines and resolutions issued by the national government and some localities on mandatory vaccination, implementation of face-to-face classes, and alert levels, among others.
“The petitioners collectively contended that the foregoing issuances trampled on their right to life and liberty without due process of law, constituted an impairment of their right to travel, as well as infringement of the equal protection clause for applying only to those without access to private vehicles, and is discriminatory against the unvaccinated,” the SC said in a statement.
The Department of Health (DOH) welcomed the high court’s dismissal and reiterated that “all regulations and policies that were made during the time of the pandemic was for the common good.”
“At present, the DOH still continues to call on the people to get vaccinated and boosted as this remains to be our best defense against the COVID-19 virus,” the agency said.
“It has been proven that vaccines, along with the application of our layers of protection, have helped in our march towards the new normal as we have built a strong wall of immunity against the virus,” it added.
The COVID-19 guidelines and regulations in question were issued during the last two years of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
The World Health Organization declared in May that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency.
