FILE PHOTO: Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Photo from Rufus B. Rodriguez Facebook page)
MANILA, Philippines — Cagayan De Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez did not mince his words as he expressed his frustration over the slow and low distribution of COVID-19 vaccines particularly in Mindanao, which has seen a surge in cases over the past weeks—even saying that he will fault vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. for the deaths of coronavirus patients in his city.
During the meeting of the House committee on Mindanao affairs on the COVID-19 situation in the region, Rodriguez said he had written to Galvez twice, from as early as May, requesting for an increase in vaccine supply for Cagayan De Oro City. However, he said he did not receive any reply to both of his letters.
Rodriguez lamented that had the national government responded to their requests, many of his constituents would not have succumbed to the severe respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
“Many already—thousands—of Cagayanos would have been alive today. That is the problem, a very slow, weak response to our request. In fact, no response at all!” an apparently furious Rodriguez said.
“I have two other meetings to do but I am going to be here because I will fault you, vaccine czar! I will fault you for the death of barangay chairmen and also my family members. You have failed to give more to cities which are higher, very much high incidence of COVID-19,” the lawmaker added.
Rodriguez likewise hit the seeming lack of urgency from authorities to respond to the COVID-19 situation in Mindanao. The lawmaker questioned if the lack of attention given to Mindanao was because the region is “very far from the seat of power” in Manila.
“Let me emphasize that people died because they did not give the proper pro-rata for those cities that are really facing so much increases in COVID-19. People died because of the inactivity of the vaccine czar. Let me state that on record!” Rodriguez said.
“If not for this meeting, they will not see the urgency of Mindanao. How can we do this? How can the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease) and also the vaccine czar forget about Mindanao and only promising now to give more when people have died already in Cagayan De Oro City,” he added.
Galvez was not present during the meeting but Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) Undersecretary Isidro Purisima apologized and assured that more vaccines will arrive in the country in the coming weeks. Galvez is principally President Rodrigo Duterte’s adviser on the peace process.
According to Purisima, there was inadequate vaccine supply during the last week of May until the first week of June – drawing the ire of Rodriguez who said that his request was sent even before the COVID-19 vaccine supply issues.
“Priority naman! Walang priority at all, it’s business as usual, neglecting Mindanao! That’s what happened!” Rodriguez said.
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