(Eagle News) — Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., had pushed through his meeting with selected senators on Wednesday night, Jan. 20, including Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, to reveal and explain details of the contracts being negotiated for the various COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered to the country.
The meeting was also attended by Senators Panfilo Lacson and Ronald dela Rosa.
The meeting was in accordance with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to present the pertinent vaccine documents to Sotto to erase any doubts among the senators about the government’s vaccine acquisition program, including its implementation
Lacson said a lot of issues were clarified during the meeting on Wednesday night.
“Sec. Galvez’s briefing clarified a lot of issues and concerns raised by the senators that have remained unresolved until last night. We advised him to explain in tomorrow’s (Friday’s) hearing the same way that he did last night, without violating the terms of the agreement with the vaccine suppliers,” Lacson explained in a statement released on the meeting.
Lacson also assured Galvez that the senators would not “jeopardize” the government’s negotiations with regards to the disclosure of vaccine prices given by manufacturers to the Philippine government, since this was covered by a confidentiality agreement.
“On our part, we committed to honor and respect those terms so as not to put in jeopardy the deliveries of the vaccines that he said will start within the first quarter of this year,” he said.
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Lacson said that Galvez showed them the necessary documents on the vaccine negotiations. The vaccine czar, who was also his “mistah” at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), also personally apologized to Lacson for certain things he mentioned in a previous Zoom meeting.
“We were shown the documents. And we have no doubt about Sec. Galvez’s integrity and his sincerity to accomplish his task,” he said.
The senator said that he had also advised Sec. Galvez to be mindful of people around him who might “take advantage of his credibility.”
“He (Galvez) may have the best of intentions but there may be people pushing him out front to do the talking and explaining to take advantage of his credibility while pursuing their own interests. He assured us that he will make it very hard for those people to even have an opening for that opportunity,” Lacson said in a statement.
“We share the same goal – to ensure our people are vaccinated against COVID-19, with no room for overpricing and other irregularities. The executive and legislative departments must work together in this regard,” he added.
(Eagle News Service)
