{"id":279081,"date":"2020-12-18T04:58:48","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T09:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=279081"},"modified":"2020-12-18T04:58:48","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T09:58:48","slug":"panelo-to-critics-stop-sowing-intrigue-on-pfizer-vaccine-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/12\/18\/panelo-to-critics-stop-sowing-intrigue-on-pfizer-vaccine-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Panelo to critics: Stop sowing intrigue on Pfizer vaccine deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Panelo issued the statement, as he chided Senator Francis Pangilinan and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate for criticizing the government over its supposed failure to secure 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer. (File photo<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Friday advised critics to stop sowing intrigues about the government\u2019s negotiations with Washington-based pharmaceutical firm Pfizer for the planned purchase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cPare-pareho ang mga linya ninyo eh… Pwede ba, kayo naman eh hinay-hinay.<\/em>\u00a0Ceasefire\u00a0na muna kayo<\/em>\u00a0(Your accusations never change. Just take it easy. Refrain from issuing statements [against the Covid-19 vaccine deal with Pfizer]),\u201d Panelo said in his commentary show \u201cCounterpoint\u201d.<\/p>\n

Panelo issued the statement, as he chided Senator Francis Pangilinan and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate for criticizing the government over its supposed failure to secure 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Zarate criticized the government\u2019s alleged preferential treatment to Sinovac Biotech, a Covid-19 vaccine developer from China.<\/p>\n

Pangilinan, on the other hand, said government officials involved in the delayed procurement of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer may face graft charges.<\/p>\n

Zarate and Pangilinan\u2019s remarks came after Health Secretary Francisco Duque III was accused of \u201cdropping the ball\u201d by failing to submit the confidentiality disclosure agreement on time for the procurement of Pfizer vaccines.<\/p>\n

Responding to the two lawmakers\u2019 claims, Panelo denied that the government is delaying the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinasabi, nabigo ang gobyerno<\/em>\u00a0(They are saying the government has failed) to secure 10 million [doses] of Pfizer [vaccine].\u00a0Ang problema sa\u2019nyo nakikinig sa tsismis<\/em>\u00a0(The problem is they are just relying on hearsay),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Misunderstanding\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panelo said there might just have been a \u201cmisunderstanding\u201d between the government officials of the United States (US) and the Philippines who are currently holding talks about the Duterte government\u2019s intent to procure 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.<\/p>\n

He, nevertheless, ensured that the Philippines is still bent on acquiring Pfizer vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cSa akin, eh nagkaroon lang siguro ng<\/em>\u00a0(For me, perhaps, there was just a) miscommunication. Alam niyo na (You know), whether there is miscommunication, certain issues will crop up. The truth of the matter is we\u2019re still negotiating and the deal is still on,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., in a Twitter post, said someone had \u201cdropped\u201d the ball\u201d on negotiations with Pfizer on the delivery of 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Senator Panfilo Lacson later claimed that Duque failed to prepare the confidentiality disclosure agreement for the acquisition of Covid-19 vaccines with Pfizer.<\/p>\n

\u2018Careful\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Thursday, Malaca\u00f1ang said President Rodrigo Duterte saw \u201cno major lapse\u201d in the country\u2019s ongoing talks with Pfizer.<\/p>\n

Panelo guaranteed that Duterte, being an \u201caction man,\u201d would not allow delays in the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n

He said the government is merely being \u201ccareful\u201d to make sure that deals for Covid-19 vaccines that will be purchased from developers in other countries would not be \u201conerous\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAba\u2019y syempre, kinakailangan maging maingat naman tayo<\/em>\u00a0(Of course, we need to be careful). Kailangan tingnan natin (We need to assess if) this is onerous to the government,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Malaca\u00f1ang earlier said the Philippines is currently holding talks with other big pharmaceutical companies Sinovac, Sputnik V from Russia, and AzstraZeneca from the United Kingdom for potential vaccine deals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Friday advised critics to stop sowing intrigues about the government\u2019s negotiations with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":250194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279081"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279082,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279081\/revisions\/279082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}