Mayor Junard "Ahong" Chan of Lapu-Lapu City in the southern region of the Visayas in the Philippines has announced a new executive order that prohibits those who have not been inoculated with a COVID vaccine from accessing grocery stores, supermarkets, department stores, and convenience stores, reports say.
Executive Order No. 2021-040 was issued on Monday, July 26, announcing a lockdown that will last through August 25, during which even more draconian rules will be applied: those who have not gotten the jab by then would be banned from accessing basic needs.
"Effective August 25, 2021, only vaccinated persons, upon presentation of their vaccination cards, shall be allowed to enter public and private markets including department stores, supermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores," Section 4 of Chan's Executive Order read, as reported by LifeSite News.
Section 7 orders the city police to "apprehend, arrest, or impose penalties" on anyone who fails to wear face mask and face shield, a plastic covering for one's face which is worn over the mask, and "improper wearing of face mask and face shield."
In a radio interview following the announcement of the Philippines mayor's draconian new executive order, Chan defended his decision, saying that the city has low rates of COVID vaccination. He said that they will wait until August 25 to see and "evaluate the turnout in our vaccination centers" to determine the growth of vaccination rates in the area. Chan added that his goal is to have 70% of the city's population inoculated with COVID vaccines.
Currently, the Philippines is a recipient of the Covax COVID vaccine program that donates shots to developing countries. According to the Philippine Department of Health, there are up to eight COVID vaccines that have Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approvals by Philippine Food and Drug Administration, namely Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson or Janssen, CoronaVac or Sinovac, Gamaleya Sputnik V, Bharat Biotech, and Novavax.
News of Chan's draconian laws surrounding COVID vaccinations was met with intense backlash on Facebook, to which the executive order was posted and shared. Some citizens went on to question whether they were being led by a "democratic administration."
On Thursday, Chan once again took to Facebook to share that there had been an increased vaccination rate in the city, from a daily average of 2,000 to 5,000 following his executive order.
Chan added that because of the improved vaccination rates in Lapu-Lapu City, he felt "great confidence" that it would be possible to do away with the draconian mandates listed in Section 4 of his latest Executive Order.
He said he would continue to monitor vaccination rates in the city within the next month and coordinate with the Department of the Interior and Local Government to determine the next steps in combating COVID in the city, which currently had a little over a thousand active COVID cases, 70% of which were asymptomatic. The city has a little under 500,000 residents.
U.K. blogger Laurence England reacted to the news coming from the Philippines on how the local government appeared to threaten its citizens to get vaccinated to be able to access markets and stores, taking to Twitter to share, "If unvaxxed are locked out of food stores, gas chambers are only months away."
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Comments to LifeSite News' report say Chan's mandate basically seems "a bit mark of the beast-ish," a reference to what is written in the book of Revelation. Some say the tyrannical policy appears to be a "trial balloon" or a testing phase for what might come in the future. England, the blogger, compared this new rule to what the Nazis did to the Jews, first blocking their access to commodities, followed by their horrendous deaths inside the Nazi regime's gas chambers.
Christians must take extra effort to be aware of what's happening so they can prepare accordingly. In the words of one LifeSite News reader, "Don't think it can't happen where you live. All it takes is one power hungry official to try it and the rest will follow suit. Still think it was all about a virus?"
