Senators agree to set vaccine priority guidelines for LGUs but with ‘leeway’

MANILA, Philippines — To ensure that the vaccination program funded by local government units (LGUs) will not be used against political opponents, senators agreed to place vaccine recipient priority guidelines under a bill seeking to expedite the vaccine purchase of LGUs.

“Baka kung walang guidelines, lahat ng kalaban sa pulitika patay na dahil hindi mabakunahan,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said during a Senate committee hearing on Thursday.

The Senate finance committee, chaired by Senator Sonny Angara, tackled a bill which seeks to exempt LGUs from certain procurement requirements under the Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act and other related laws during the period of the state of calamity due to the pandemic.

The measure would allow LGUs to make an advance payment of not more than 50 percent of the contract price “if required by the supplier, manufacturer, distributor, contractor or consultant.”

But LGUs, under the bill, are only allowed to purchase Covid-19 vaccines that are registered with the Food and Drug Administration or has been granted an emergency use authorization.

“This (guidelines) must be set in the law because otherwise pagka po pagdating ng halalan, wala nang kalaban dahil hindi binigyan ng Covid [vaccine] at namatay na lahat. Hindi po tama yan. Kaya lagyan din po natin ng prioritization list,” the minority leader said.

Before this, Drilon proposed a provision under the measure that would specify the prioritized recipients under an LGU-funded inoculation program.

“This is an exercise of police power which emanates from Congress and at the same time an exercise of regulating the program in the local government for the duration of the emergency on public health,” he said.

Give LGUs ‘leeway’

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, author of the bill, agreed with Drilon on the importance of setting up guidelines on the prioritization of the vaccine program at the local level.

“There should be some sort of guidelines para hindi po political party ang bibigyan ng bakuna. Eleksyon na po, baka naman lahat ng kapartido bakunahan yung hindi kapartido. ‘Bahala kayo sa buhay niyo. Hindi na kayo makaboto pagdating sa halalan dahil wala kayong bakuna.’ Hindi tama ‘yon. So there should be some sort of guidelines naman,” he said.

Zubiri, however, stressed that local governments should be given “leeway” since every LGU may have a different set of priorities, saying governors or mayors may want to vaccinate their barangay health workers first.

“I think the priority of the LGUs might be a little more different….Kasi sa national government, nandiyan pa yung military, yung pulis, e di naman ‘yan priority ng local governments. The local governments, of course, have different priorities,” he said.

Zubiri said LGUs should be consulted on who they want to prioritize if “we’re going to make it finite in the law.”

Angara echoed this and assured that his committee will come up with a “mutually agreeable” framework for the proposed prioritization guidelines under the bill.

“Let’s allow some leeway for local autonomy,” he said.

He cited as an example his home province, Aurora, where tourism workers are considered as economic frontliners.

“We consider as our economic frontliners some of the tourism workers: the tricycle drivers, the municipal tourism officers…who will jump start your economy. Kung wala ‘yan, patay talaga yang economy. We’ve seen so many individuals and families laid off kasi patay ang tourism industry,” Angara said

“And we’re seeing some provinces like Palawan, Aklan getting their act together. Kami nahuhuli kami, so kami, would like my governor or my mayor to be able to say ‘Let’s vaccinate our tricycle drivers’ kasi yan ang tour guides namin,” he added.

Drilon agreed with Zubiri and Angara that LGUs should be consulted on how the prioritization would be set under the measure.

The government targets to roll out its Covid-19 mass immunization program within the first quarter of the year, eyeing to vaccinate at least 70 million Filipinos to achieve herd immunity and significantly arrest the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which causes the potentially fatal respiratory illness.

The national government has so far secured 108 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from different manufacturers while LGUs and the private sector have so far ordered a total of 27 million doses through tripartite agreements.

JE