Roque says no direct negotiation between Duterte, Sinopharm

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has no direct negotiation with Sinopharm, China’s developer of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

“He (Duterte) did not deal directly with Sinopharm,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a virtual presser, despite the claim of Duterte’s special envoy to China Ramon Tulfo that the President was able to have a phone conversation with a representative of Sinopharm.

Tulfo, in his Feb. 20 column published in local newspaper The Manila Times, recounted that he had lent his phone to Duterte and let the Chief Executive talk to the “Sinopharm representative in the country.”

Duterte, Tulfo bared, had requested samples of Covid-19 vaccine jabs for him and his family.

Pressed further if his statement was meant to belie Tulfo’s remarks, Roque said: “I am not belying anything that Mon Tulfo said. All I’m saying is that’s his article, please ask him, not me.”

Roque, however, clarified that Sinopharm vaccines could only be used by personnel of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted them a “compassionate” license for the administration of China-made vaccine.

“As in fact, we still cannot import Sinopharm on a commercial basis, not on a large-scale basis beyond the compassionate use license issued by the FDA,” he said.

In his column, Tulfo also admitted that he, along with unnamed “government officials,” received the unauthorized Covid-19 vaccine from Sinopharm in October last year.

Tulfo also divulged that he informed Duterte in December last year about the vaccine’s “lack of troublesome side effects.”

Roque refused to react when asked if Tulfo’s actions could be considered “alarming.”

He, however, said it is “understandable” that some Filipinos want to protect themselves against Covid-19.

“Wala po akong reaksiyon diyan dahil sa panahon ng pandemiya, naiintindihan ko po na maraming gusto talagang magka-proteksiyon. Pero ang sinasabi natin sa lahat, hintayin po nating dumaan sa proseso for our own interest (I don’t have a reaction to that because, in this time of the pandemic, I understand that many really want to have protection. But we’re telling them to wait for the right process for our own interest),” Roque said.

Quizzed again if there was a conflict of interest in Tulfo’s actions since he is a public official, Roque said: “We have no opinion whatsoever. We leave that to the Ombudsman.”

FDA Director General Eric Domingo on Wednesday said Tulfo’s case will be referred to the agency’s regulatory enforcement unit for investigation.