IT is unfortunate that the new year of 2021 is beginning with a vaccine controversy when our efforts should be concentrated on fighting the COVID-19 which continues to infect and kill people in our country.
That case of a COVID-19 vaccine being used by the Presidential Security Guards (PSG), along with some Cabinet members, refuses to die down, despite the explanations and assurances of the presidential spokesman and the presidential legal counsel that the PSG action was actually meritorious and deserving of praise.
After President Duterte appealed to Congress “not to tinker” with the PSG, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) decided Monday to cancel its inquiry into the actions of the PSG men, who are part of the AFP. The Senate will, however, go on with its inquiry on the entire vaccine situation in the country, including Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s charge that someone in the government “dropped the ball” in early talks with Pfizer, so that we won’t be having any vaccine until May, five months from now.
Senate President Vicente Sotto said that when the Senate Committee of the Whole meets, led by him as Senate president, it will focus on how the government is spending the P75.5 billion allocated in the 2021 national budget. He said he has no plans to call the PSG to the hearing.
