No Wonder Duterte Is Angry With His Citizens Who Refuse The COVID-19 Vaccine And Is Fond Of Wandering Around, The Philippines Has Just Printed A Case Record

Illustration of President Duterte campaigning for a COVID-19 vaccine. (Wikimedia Commons/Alfred Frias/Presidential Photo)

JAKARTA - The Philippine Ministry of Health reported a record 26,458 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Saturday (January 8).

Confirmed cases have exceeded 2.93 million, while deaths have reached more than 52,000 as 265 deaths were recorded as of Saturday. The previous daily record in COVID-19 cases was 26,303 as of 11 Sep 2021.

President Rodrigo Duterte said earlier this week that people who had not taken a COVID-19 shot would be arrested if they did not comply with stay-at-home orders.

Duterte in a televised address to the country said he called on community leaders to search for people who were not vaccinated and ensure they were confined to their homes.

"If you refuse, if you leave the house and travel around the community, you can be arrested. If you refuse, the captain is now authorized to arrest naughty people," Duterte said, quoted by Channel News Asia.

"I am responsible for the safety and well-being of every Filipino," Duterte said, challenging those who disapprove of his directives to file cases against him.

By the end of last year, 49.8 million people had been fully vaccinated, or 45 percent of the country's 110 million population. Under existing rules, unvaccinated people in the capital Manila area can only leave their homes for essential travel.

To note, President Duterte is known for his war rhetoric. Last year, he threatened people who refused injections with prison or injections of Ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug widely used to treat animals.