Sen. Panfilo Lacson and presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo. (INQUIRER.net file photos)
MANILA, Philippines — “How about getting competent people?”
Senator Panfilo Lacson said this as he hit back at Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo for daring him to present solutions to address issues in the delayed delivery of vaccines in the country.
“Solution? How about getting competent people? How many opportunities were missed and lost? Who dropped the ball? Who is indecisive?” Lacson tweeted Monday.
“Who has no sense of urgency? Who is making money even in the middle of a pandemic? Think for a change, Sal,” he added.
Solution? How about getting competent people? How many opportunities were missed and lost? Who dropped the ball? Who is indecisive? Who has no sense of urgency? Who is making money even in the middle of a pandemic? Think for a change, Sal. https://t.co/53WyBp4zLB
— PING LACSON (@iampinglacson) March 21, 2021
Panelo’s challenge
In his commentary program aired over PTV on Sunday, Panelo challenged Lacson to provide solutions to aid the government’s vaccine rollout after the latter questioned why the procured vaccines have yet to be delivered despite billions of available funds sourced from loans.
Lacson also said that Filipinos “might all die waiting” unless the government undertakes “drastic and innovative steps.”
“Assuming na mali yung programa ng gobyerno, ano ‘yun Senador Ping? What are those drastic and innovative solutions? Magbigay ka. Kung magaling ka e sabihin mo para kung tama e ‘di gawin natin,” Panelo said.
(Assuming that there’s something wrong with the program of the government, what are those Senator Ping? What are those drastic and innovative solutions? Present them. If you’re really that good, tell us, if it’s the right thing to do, let’s implement it.)
Panelo also came to the defense of vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
“Halos hindi na natutulog ‘to. Yung mga in-charge po dun talagang ginagawa nila. Katunayan wala naman hong problema e. Nakabili na nga ho tayo e meaning perfected na yung contract, talagang magde-deliver na,” he added.
(They don’t even sleep anymore. Those who are in charge are really doing their best. In fact, there’s really no problem on our part, we already procured meaning we already have perfected contracts. The vaccines are for delivery.)
Global supply
Panelo said the problem lies with issues on global supply, which he said should not be blamed on the government.
“E ang problema nga nagkaroon ng problema sa supply. Hindi po natin kasalanan yung supply. Yung supply manggagaling dun sa pinaggagalingang pharmaceutical company, sila ang nagkaproblema. Bakit naman hindi? Buong [mundo] nag-uunahan makakuha ng bakuna,” he said.
(The problem is with the supply. The issues with supply are no longer our fault. It’s the pharmaceutical companies that are having problems, why? Because the whole world is scrambling to get these vaccines.)
“Siyempre yung mga pharmaceutical company, sino yung uunahin nila? Ang uunahin nila yung nakabayad na at yung makapangyarihan…Yan yung mga sintido kumon na hindi niyo pinapasok sa inyong isipan…Katunayan yung tinatawag niyong corruption, hindi rin totoo yun,” he added.
(Of course, the pharmaceutical companies, who will they prioritize? Those countries who paid first, the powerful ones. That’s common sense that we failed to think of…In fact, there’s no corruption.)
Vaccination drive kickoff
The country kicked off its vaccination drive on Mar. 1 following the arrival of 600,000 doses of the CoronaVac vaccine from Sinovac Biotech which were donated by the Chinese government.
On March 4, 487,200 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from British-Swede firm AstraZeneca arrived in the country through the COVAX facility.
This was followed by another set of 38,400 doses that arrived on March 7.
The vaccine czar earlier said that the Philippine government has already secured 108 million doses of vaccines from different manufacturers through signed term sheets, which indicate that supplies have already been “locked-in” for the country.