Advises Galvez not to be discouraged by “brickbats” thrown at him by politicians
(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte stressed that all payments for the vaccines that the Philippines will buy will be coming from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, as he chided critics claiming that there could be corruption in the vaccine deals.
Duterte also reiterated how the vaccine deals would still have to pass through the Department of Finance, particularly DOF Secretary Carlos Dominguez, and through his office. He said he himself will scrutize the deals to make sure that there are no loopholes and no corruption involved.
The 75-year old Philippine leader said that ADB and World Bank had agreed to loan money for the Philippines to be used in the vaccine acquisition. At least 148 million vaccine doses have already been secured by the negotiators led by vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.
The problem now is that vaccine supplies are dwindling, as even vaccine manufacturers are experiencing delays in their production, aside from other political pressure such as that coming from the European Union. EU recently had been pressuring AstraZeneca to first give the vaccines that the EU had promised to pay, before exporting these to other countries outside the EU.
-Money still with ADB, WorldBank-
“As I have told you before, ganito ‘yan mayroon tayong pangbayad. Ang Asian Development Bank pati ang World Bank magpahiram sa atin para ibayad natin sa vaccine na bilhin natin. Iyong mga price-price haggling lang ‘yan eventually ‘yung mag-taper off ‘yan into a uniformity sa prices,” he said.
“Ang pera nasa bangko. Wala tayong inipon na pera para diyan lang kasi hindi natin alam na ‘yang COVID dadating sa buhay natin,” Duterte said.
The Philippine president said that critics squeezing Galvez, or even those lambasting Health Secretary Francisco Duque III are barking up the wrong tree. He said that these critics, especially those running for public office, just wanted to “appear pristine” in public.
“Ang akin lang is, next time is they should ask first or at least rendahan ninyo ‘yung the urge, the — to urge so parang bitawan na kaagad ‘yung kabayo na para lang to gain publicity or to appear in public to be pristine,” he said.
“Kaya nga eh sabi ko, all of you there have been painting Duque black because you appear — you want to appear white there. Iyan ang ano… If you want to appear white, then paint your opponent black and then you are always white. Ganoon ‘yan,” he said.
Duterte also advised Galvez not to be affected by those criticizing his efforts to get the vaccines for the Philippines.
“Talagang ganyan ang politics. Do not be discouraged sa brickbats being thrown against you,” he told the vaccine czar.
As for the public, he advised Filipinos to trust government, and to stick with Secretary Galvez.
“Just keep your faith in government,” Duterte said.
(Eagle News Service)
