BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

Enforcing the Right to Health:

“Solusyong Medikal, Hindi Militar”

A Legal Research

Submitted by:

Noniebell Magsino
First Year Student

Submitted to:

ATTY. LUZVIMINDA ROSALES

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

I certify that this paper does not incorporate without acknowledgment any

material previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university, and to the best

of my knowledge and belief, it does not contain any material previously published or

written by another person except where due reference is made in the text. I further

certify that I am fully aware of the university policy on intellectual dishonesty.

Regards,

Noniebell Magsino

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

Table of Contents

Summary 1

Introduction 5

Research Questions `` 6

Thesis Statement 6

Methods and Considerations 6

Legal Doctrine 7

Analysis 8

Conclusion 10

References 11

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

SUMMARY

Human rights are key in shaping the pandemic response, both for the public

health emergency and the broader impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. Human

rights put people centre-stage. Responses that are shaped by and respect human rights

result in better outcomes in beating the pandemic, ensuring healthcare for everyone and

preserving human dignity. But they also focus our attention on who is suffering most,

why, and what can be done about it. They prepare the ground now for emerging from

this crisis with more equitable and sustainable societies, development and peace.

Philippines community quarantine was referred being a ‘military solution’ or a

militaristic approach, and the only wide-ranging solution government has implemented

so far since the first COVID-19 cases in the Philippines were discovered on January 31.

Some even thought the ‘lockdown’ is similar to a martial law situation.

In an effort to bring these possible shortcomings to light and open a discussion for

more efficient solutions for all, activists launched the hashtag

#SolusyongMedikalHindiMilitar on Twitter — and as expected, it quickly became a

heated debate. One side calls for the government to take action toward containing and

eliminating the virus by issuing safety precautions at militaryled security checkpoints

and making sure the military personnel are given proper medical equipment that would

help prevent COVID-19 from further spreading. The other side is highlighting Filipinos’

“need for discipline,” which is what they say justifies the strict military presence.

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 regulations imposed by the national government have been

“erratic and irregular,” causing confusion to the general public and threatening to

unsettle the rule of law at large. Illustrative of the lack of a programmatic trajectory is

the way in which the leadership of some local government units (LGUs) has diverged

from the national government’s approach. The constantly shifting quarantine

classifications across different local jurisdictions also contributed to the lack of

consistent application of laws and regulations. The “lack of consensus on the basic

question of what rules people are even supposed to follow” effectively makes the

implementation of the law arbitrary. Without a concrete framework that moors the

national government, the Philippines’ pandemic response continue to fall short of

meeting fundamental State obligation

As a legal starting point, Republic Act No. 11132 provides a framework for the

notification and monitoring of notifiable diseases such as COVID-19. Prevention can be

done through proportional and reasonable limitations to the freedom of movement that

would be sufficient to contain the spread of the disease. Any such regulation, however,

must take into account mobility needed to work and have access to basic necessities.

For instance, a total ban on public transport, which has been done at the

beginning of the lockdown, disproportionately affects low-income workers reliant on

mass transit.

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. In the Philippines, like elsewhere, universal health coverage is foremost a

political choice. When will be our right to health be considered as human rights?

2. Whether Republic Act No. 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, really

helps in emergency measures to respond to the COVID-19 national health crisis

3. Whether all quarantine protocols are justifiable

THESIS STATEMENT

Congress promulgated the Act in view of the serious health threats and

disruptions posed by COVID-19 on the lives and livelihoods of people and the

economy as a whole (Section 2). In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11

March 2020 has already characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic and called on all

countries to take urgent and aggressive action to mitigate or prevent its spread.

The Act comes in the wake of initial measures already taken by the president to

address the COVID-19 situation with the issuance of Proclamation 922 (signed 8

March 2020) declaring a state of public health emergency throughout the Philippines

and Proclamation 929 (signed 16 March 2020) declaring a state of calamity throughout

the Philippines and imposing an enhanced community quarantine throughout Luzon.

METHODS AND CONSIDERATIONS

The researcher made list of numerous possible topics for legal research which

interest her the most. After choosing the topic, she made preliminary research on the

subject and started gathering vital and authentic information from different sources

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

whether from primary and secondary source or even from the worldwide web.

The researcher chose the above-stated study since it is one of the most relevant

and hottest topics of debate since it concerns the public health safety which is certainly

needed as we were experiencing global COVID-19 pandemic. She explained the

Republic Act No. 11132 or the Bayanihan to heal as one Act. To find the answers about

the issues concerning the said imposing the right to health, she collected information

from international and local laws, including World Health organization webpage,

universal declaration of human rights, and domestic laws.

Some studies were also incorporated to shed some enlightenment to the rationale

of the laws given.

LEGAL DOCTRINES

I. In International Law

Pre-dating the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

(ICESCR) was the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO), which

established the specialized United Nations body on July 22, 1946. The instrument

contained a definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-

being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The preambular portion of

the text further states that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is

one of the fundamental rights of every human being”, without any discrimination. The

main feature of the WHO definition is that of necessarily expanding the ‘negative’

definition of health (absence of disease or infirmity) into a more ‘positive’ one that

embraces a complete state.

II. The Right to Health and the COVID-19 Crisis in the Philippines

At the close of 2020, the Philippines has recorded more than 470,000 cases of

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

COVID-19 infections. In terms of regard for human rights, the Philippine government’s

pandemic response has met criticisms from international human rights observers,

including the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

(OHCHR). High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet characterized the Philippine

response as “highly militarized”, leading to thousands of arrests of quarantine violators.

The government itself has attempted to justify its wartime-like response and the

appointment of retired military officials in key posts of the pandemic task force by

reinforcing the need for discipline and organization.

ANALYSIS

This study aims to answer the following questions with in-depth analysis and

assessment on the Imposing the right to health: “solusyong medikal, hindi militar” and

the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act,

In the Philippines, like elsewhere, universal health coverage is foremost a political

choice. When will be our right to health be considered as human rights?

The right to the highest attainable standard of health implies a clear set of legal

obligations on states to ensure appropriate conditions for the enjoyment of health for all

people without discrimination.

The right to health is one of a set of internationally agreed human rights standards,

and is inseparable or ‘indivisible’ from these other rights. This means achieving the right

to health is both central to, and dependent upon, the realisation of other human rights, to

food, housing, work, education, information, and participation.

The right to health, as with other rights, includes both freedoms and entitlements:

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

 Freedoms include the right to control one’s health and body (for example, sexual

and reproductive rights) and to be free from interference (for example, free from

torture and non-consensual medical treatment and experimentation).

 Entitlements include the right to a system of health protection that gives

everyone an equal opportunity to enjoy the highest attainable level of health.

President Rodrigo Duterte was granted special powers to deal with the pandemic

as provided by the Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act. This,

however, was criticized by public health advocates as it relied primarily on state security

forces, with the military and retired generals practically leading the government

response.

This situation resulted in human rights violations, and according to human rights

groups. There were reports of health protocol violators being subjected to physical,

emotional, and gender-based violence. Psychological mistreatment also happened,

including being made to do loads of push-ups, being crammed inside dog cages, and

being made to sit or stand in the sun.

In some places violators are even put inside the coffin to let them feel how it is to

be dead when you died from COVID19 virus that can cause psychological trauma

especially to those people who have a phobia. And some are instead of staying at home

they were forced to do community services because they violate quarantine protocols.

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

CONCLUSION

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Philippines initial response was lacked of

organizational preparedness to counter the public health threat. The Philippines’ disease

surveillance system could conduct contact tracing, but this was overwhelmed in the

early phases of outbreak response. In addition, the primary care system of the

Philippines did not serve as a primary line of defense, as people went straight to

hospitals in urban areas, overwhelming critical care capacity in the early stages of the

COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the early phase of the pandemic, the Government of the Philippines

implemented travel restrictions, community quarantine, risk communication and testing;

however, the slow ramping up of capacities particularly on testing contributed to

unbridled disease transmission. The lack of pandemic preparedness had left the country

poorly defended against the new virus and its devastating effects. Investing diligently

and consistently in pandemic preparedness, surveillance and testing capacity in

particular is a lesson that the Philippines should learn from COVID-19

We need a clearer and comprehensive nationwide information drive to explain

how to protect one’s self and others who are more vulnerable, and to alleviate mass

panic and hoarding of supplies.

Information is needed, not force. Medical and financial support, not guns.

Enforcement of a “lockdown” must go hand in hand with the necessary health and

economic measures. Otherwise, it’s just another disaster waiting to happen.

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 BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Law
BatStateU – Pablo Borbon Campus, Batangas City, Philippines, 4200

REFERENCES

1. www.officialgazette.gov.ph

2. International Health Regulations: WHO

3. unitednationslawjournal.edu.au

4. legacy.senate.gov.ph

5. unitednationslawjournal.edu.au

6. lawphil.net

7. manilatoday.net

8. unicef.org/coronavirus

9. infographics.channelasia.com/covid18

10. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2020/01jan/20200128-IATF-

RESOLUTION-NO-1-RRD.pdf, accessed 3 June 2020.

11. https://www.cab.gov.ph/announcements/category/february-16, accessed 19

March 2020.

12. Updates of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Manila: Department of

Health; 2020. Available from: https://www.doh.gov.ph/2019-nCov, accessed 16

October 2020.

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