The agency said that while the 1987 Constitution provides that liberty of movement can be restricted in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health, it still requires a law to make the said restriction legal.
Presently, there is no law that makes being unvaccinated a crime, nor is there any law that would satisfy the Constitutional provision on curtailing freedom of movement, according to CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia.
She said any arrest made on these grounds may be illegal and violative of the Constitution and human rights.
Any arrest without warrant goes against the guarantees of due process in the Constitution, de Guia added.
Warrantless arrests can only be made under certain exemptions, including in flagrante delicto (in the act of committing/attempting to commit/has committed a crime) arrests; “hot pursuit” arrests; and rearrest of escaped prisoners, the CHR spokesperson said.
She added the present directive to arrest unvaccinated individuals on the spot does not satisfy the said exemptions, aside from the fact that no crime is being committed.
“We continue to stress the parameters of acceptable justifications detailed under the Siracusa Principles for the restriction of rights as a response to the present pandemic—that, among others, it must be legal, necessary, proportional, non-discriminatory, and should not be abused,” de Guia said.
Government should also contemplate the repercussions of such a directive considering that our jails and other detention facilities are already congested, which may further worsen transmission of Covid-19, she said.
The CHR urged the government to employ a human rights-based approach on the matter, wherein education on the importance of vaccinations will continue to be pursued; vaccine hesitancy, access, and supply will be addressed; and alternatives to arrests will be explored, including understanding why others insist on going out despite being unvaccinated and providing a win-win solution.
“Ending the pandemic is a human rights concern. We stress that an effective pandemic response can and should maintain respect for human rights,” the agency said.