In defending President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States if it fails to immediately provide of 20 milion of Covid-19 vaccine doses, Senator Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and House Committee on Health chairperson Helen Tan said the President may have made the statement out of frustration at the delay in its procurement and delivery.
“I believe because we are a bit too late in the game… Naunahan na tayo ng ibang bansa, ang balita nga raw yung 10 million doses ng Singapore dapat para sa atin yun, so medyo na by-pass na tayo at nakikita ko ang frustration ng ating Pangulo,” Zubiri said.
“Siguro out of his frustration, sinabi niya na mawawala yung visiting forces agreement natin dito kung ganito ang mangyayari. But I could see, because of anger,” he added.
The Philippines was supposed to receive 10 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine by January next year, but Health Secretary Francisco Duque III’s allegedly fauiled to submit the required Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement on time, costing the country that opportunity.
Still, Zubiri said the Philippines can still purchase vaccines from other pharmaceutical companies like India’s Novavax which only costs P366 per person.
He is also hoping that Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez would succeed in convincing the US government to help the Philippines procure the Pfizer vaccine.
Tan, for her part, said Duterte made the remark out of his genuine concern for Filipinos.
“If you look at it, it is heartwarming to see that he (Duterte) is fighting for the Filipinos to avail of the vaccine. That only means that he would not settle for less,” Tan said in as separate interview.
“He could be thinking that matter so we could be able to get that importance since the VFA is very important to the US,” she added.
Tan issued the statement when asked about her opinion on the President’s threat.
“So they are equally important if you weigh things are. What are their (US) gains here? And what are our gains from the vaccine they would give to us, which we deserve,” she said.
But opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan said that Duterte should be issuing his threats to China, and not to the United States.
“Perhaps our citizens would be better off if he instead threatened China not to sell us more expensive yet less than ineffective if not inferior vaccines,” Pangilinan said in a message to reporters.
Manila formally sought the VFA’s termination back in February 11 this year after the United States revoked the visa of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa.
President Rodrigo Duterte had warned that he would not order another suspension of the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States even if the Philippines fails to secure coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines from Pfizer.
Duterte issued the warning in a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and infectious diseases experts at Malacañan Palace on Saturday after the Philippines reportedly failed to secure a deal with Pfizer, a pharmaceutical giant from the US, on the delivery of 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by January next year.
“Ang kanila lang kasi ay iyong Visiting Forces Agreement, matatapos na. Ngayon, ‘pag hindi ako pumayag, aalis talaga sila. Kung hindi sila maka-deliver ng maski na lang (They know the Visiting Forces Agreement will already expire. If the termination of the deal takes effect, they must leave the country. If they cannot deliver even with just) a minimum of 20 million vaccines, ah they better get out. No vaccine, no stay here,” Duterte said.
The Philippines formally notified the US about its decision to revoke the VFA on early February this year. The VFA is a military pact inked in 1998 to allow American soldiers who are participating in joint military drills to go to Manila sans passport and visa.
The VFA remains in effect after Duterte ordered on June 1 the suspension of VFA abrogation “in light of political and other developments in the region”.
Duterte said the VFA’s fate now depends on the result of the ongoing negotiation between his administration and Pfizer.
“If you want to help, if America wants to help, you deliver. Stop talking. What we need is the vaccine, not your verbose speeches,” he said.
Covid-19 vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., who attended the meeting at Malacañang, said the country is expected to ink the vaccine deal with Pfizer in January next year.
Galvez, who also acts as the National Policy Against Covid-19 chief implementer, told Duterte that the country might be able to secure around 80 million of vaccines from developers in other countries.
“We are already 85 percent of the contract,” he said. “So all in all sir if we will get Novavax, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, J&J, and also Moderna, we might have more or less 80 million doses. And also recently, last — at the evening of — at the evening of 24 and also in the morning, the Gamaleya of Russia also negotiated for another 25 million.” With PNA