PH military stops probe on use of unregistered COVID-19 vaccines after Duterte order

MANILA, Philippines — Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay has called off the military’s own investigation of the Presidential Security Group’s (PSG) use of unauthorized Chinese coronavirus vaccines.

In a statement, AFP spokesperson Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said the cancellation was due to the recent pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte, prohibiting the PSG to divulge details.

In his weekly address on Monday night, Duterte ordered the PSG, his close-in security detail, not to attend legislative summons and stay mum about their use of the unregistered vaccines.

Aside from the AFP, the Senate and National Bureau of Investigation also planned to look into the use of smuggled COVID-19 vaccines.

“Do not obey the summons…. I am ordering you to stay put in the barracks,” Duterte told PSG chief Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III in a late-night televised address.

The probe of the 10-member investigating team led by Lt. Gen. Franco Nemesio Gacal, the AFP’s Inspector General, was supposed to start on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

Duterte said the PSG inoculated themselves for “self-preservation” and he was ready to defend them.

“I am prepared to defend my soldiers. I will not allow them for all of their good intentions, to be brutalized in hearing,” he said.

The Philippines Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, making the importation and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine as illegal.

EDV