MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN): The Senate will proceed with an inquiry into the government’s vaccination programme despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat of a “crisis” if the senators insist on questioning his military bodyguards about their inoculation with a candidate vaccine for Covid-19 that is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA, National Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Customs are also proceeding with their investigation of the illegal entry into the Philippines of the vaccine developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm and its unauthorised use to inoculate troops from the Presidential Security Group (PSG).
But the Armed Forces of the Philippines called off its investigation that had been scheduled to open on Tuesday (Jan 5) after Duterte, in a televised address to the nation late on Monday, ordered the PSG commander, Brig Gen Jesus Durante III, not to obey summons from the Senate.
“Although it was not directly directed at the AFP, we take [our] cue from that because he is the Commander in Chief of all armed forces, ” Maj Gen Edgard Arevalo, the military spokesperson, said in announcing on Tuesday the halt to the investigation ordered by the chief of staff, Gen. Gilbert Gapay.
The PSG is a military unit but its operations are overseen by the Office of the President.
Duterte was the first to disclose the PSG vaccinations in a televised address on Dec 26, but the FDA said it had not authorised any Covid-19 vaccine for use in the Philippines.
Senators’ talk about an inquiry apparently angered the President, who warned the lawmakers in his address late Monday against citing PSG officials for contempt.
“I will not allow it. I will go to Congress and get them ... If you do that, there will be a little crisis. It’s in your hands. I’m prepared to defend my soldier[s]. I will not allow them for all their good intentions to be brutalised in a hearing, ” Duterte said.
Although dismayed at Duterte’s assertion of executive privilege, the senators said the committee of the whole’s inquiry into the government’s vaccination programme would proceed even without the PSG.
“Who in heaven’s name told him I’m calling the PSG?” Senate President Vicente Sotto III, chair of the committee of the whole, said.
“I think the President is being misled.”
Sotto explained that the subject of the inquiry is “the road map for the P72.5 billion” approved by Congress for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines. Any other topic, including the PSG vaccinations, may be tackled in a separate hearing, he said.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon acknowledged the legality of Duterte’s assertion of executive privilege, provided for under Executive Order No. 464, issued in 2005 by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, requiring heads of executive departments to secure presidential permission before appearing in any congressional investigation.
Drilon, however, said there was no need to invite Durante to the inquiry, as the Senate could call other sources of information.
“[T]here is no preventing Congress from eliciting information in aid of legislation from other resource persons, ” he said in a statement.
“The Senate should continue with the hearing, especially in the light of the revelation that 100,000 [Chinese online gambling] workers [in the country have been] inoculated.”
Chinese-Filipino community leader Teresita Ang See disclosed the vaccinations in a news conference in Manila on Monday. She did not name the source of the unauthorised vaccine, but said it was the same as the source of the vaccine given to the PSG.
“The Senate must exercise its mandate to look deeply into the issue in order to plug the loopholes in the law granting authority to the [FDA], ” Drilon said.
In separate statements, other senators said the inquiry would proceed despite Duterte’s threat.
Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the blue ribbon committee, said the President’s “shot [across the Senate’s] bow” was a “wrong thing [for him] to do.”
“The President has got to respect the separation of powers clause. We took an oath as lawyers to uphold the law and he took an oath as President. We took an oath to do our duty to protect the public, ” Gordon said.
The PSG vaccinations became a controversy because Duterte was not being transparent, he said.
He urged the leaders of the executive and legislative branches to call a meeting to settle the controversy “without much constitutional bombardment.” - Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network
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