House probe on PSG’s vaccination sought despite Duterte’s call for Congress to stand down
MANILA, Philippines — The leftist Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives is calling for an investigation into the inoculation of members of the Presidential Security Group with a smuggled coronavirus vaccine, defying President Rodrigo Duterte’s call for Congress to back off on the issue.
“The VIP vaccination of [the] PSG is therefore a blatant violation of multiple laws and the oath to public office to uphold and defend the Constitution and to obey the laws … against unregistered drugs, smuggling and prioritizing personal interest above their own,” the bloc said in filing House Resolution No. 1451.
The bloc specifically wants to know who were vaccinated, how the vaccines entered the country, what vaccines were administered, and which officials were responsible for the procurement, smuggling and administration of the vaccines.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has said that the vaccines used on PSG personnel were not bought using public funds. However, government officials have yet to disclose where they got the vaccines and how these entered the country.
It is not clear whether the Makabayan bloc’s call for an investigation will actually be heeded, given that the House’s leadership is still largely loyal to Duterte, who on Monday night warned of a “crisis” should legislators compel his guards to explain their actions.
Duterte also ordered the PSG not to testify in congressional hearings, going as far as telling them to snub summons.
The Senate is scheduled next Monday to look into the government’s COVID-19 immunization plan, but it appears that the PSG vaccination issue would not be tackled as Senate President Tito Sotto said he has not invited the president’s guards to the hearing.
While Duterte is not keen on allowing his guards to appear in congressional probes, Roque said during his regular briefing on Tuesday that it would be fine for them to present themselves in investigations conducted by agencies under the executive department, like the National Bureau of Investigation and the Food and Drug Administration.
The law prohibits the manufacture, import, sale and distribution of unregistered vaccines and drugs. It, however, stops short of penalizing people who receive unauthorized inoculation.
It was the president himself who disclosed last month that some soldiers had received jabs of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm, in a revelation that caught health officials surprised and left the public enraged.
Health workers and advocates slammed the early COVID-19 vaccination given to the president’s security detail as they were “bypassed and especially leapfrogged by those not even listed yet.”
Under the government’s prioritization scheme of vaccine recipients, healthcare workers will be the first to get COVID-19 inoculated. Uniformed personnel are fifth in the said list.
Aside from the president's security group, at least one Cabinet member was also said to have been inoculated with an unauthorized vaccine. — with a report from Gaea Katreena Cabico
The City Health Office of Lipa City reported on Sunday that 6,596 people have already received their jabs of Sinovac and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines since the inoculation started two months ago.
The number represents 10% of the total 65,377 persons who registered to be scheduled for COVID vaccination.
Lipa City has a total population of 389,836 but not everyone registered for the vaccination. The city government also said 149,881 residents are aged 18 and below and currently “not qualified” for vaccination. — The Filipino Connection/Marlon Luistro
British-Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca has applied for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines.
Philippine Food and Drug Administration Director General Eric Domingo confirms this in an interview with CNN Philippines.
AstraZeneca, along with its partner Oxford University in England, has so far made 50 million doses of its vaccine. In November, the British laboratory announced that its vaccine was on average 70% effective.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines terminates its investigation into the unregulated Sinopharm vaccination of President Rodrigo Duterte's security detail following the chief executive's order not to cooperate with the probe.
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