MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III admitted on Wednesday that he felt hurt when he was publicly blamed for the botched deal with US drugmaker Pfizer which other government officials said would have secured the country 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in January 2021.
“Masakit lang sa akin kasi nga eh sana hindi ganoon. Sana napag-usapan, nagbigay ng sulat, formal, may documentation lahat, because to me that’s how professional governance works,” Duque said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay online media forum.
(It was painful to me because it should not have been done like that. I hope they wrote a formal letter because to me that’s how professional governance works.)
Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed that the country could have secured the delivery of 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer as early as January next year if Duque had immediately worked on the signing of the Confidential Disclosure Agreement with the pharmaceutical firm.
Lacson mentioned Duque’s name following a tweet from Foreign Affairs Secretary Locsin, who said that he and Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez had arranged for the delivery of the vaccines with the help of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Duque has since denied that he did not act quick enough to sign the CDA and explained that it was only on September 24 that the Department of Health was informed that it would be a signatory for the document.
He also reiterated that “what we did was correct,” citing protocols that were followed in the signing of the CDA.
“I have already said this over and over again. There was no dropping the ball. Ang ginawa natin dito (What we did here is) due diligence. We cannot be reckless. We cannot be signing documents without legal clearance,” he stressed.
“The problem is if people talk and yet they do not have the competence to comprehend the complexities of the vaccine selection, scientific evaluation, procurement, distribution, production, storage, logistical requirements, the actual immunization program. These are all the imperatives of our vaccine roadmap and we must understand the process,” he also said.
Nevertheless, Duque said that he just wanted to move on from the issue.
He noted that the government has other more important matters to address, specifically Filipinos’ vaccination against the coronavirus.
“Ako as a professional, trabaho na lang tayo (we will just work), we move forward, we explain to the people. We leave it at that,” said Duque.
“We have too much on our plate. We cannot spend our time bickering and trying to say something to counter somebody’s statement. So we just move on kasi ang bigat bigat ng ating hamon (because the challenge ahead of us is huge),” he added.