{"id":279432,"date":"2020-12-22T02:11:12","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T07:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=279432"},"modified":"2020-12-22T02:11:12","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T07:11:12","slug":"ph-second-fiddle-in-vaccine-purchase-because-its-not-rich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/12\/22\/ph-second-fiddle-in-vaccine-purchase-because-its-not-rich\/","title":{"rendered":"PH \u2018second fiddle\u2019 in vaccine purchase because it\u2019s not rich"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
He said there was \u201cno available\u201d vaccines from Pfizer for the Philippines, adding that \u201cit remains to be seen\u201d when the American pharmaceutical company could supply the country with.
(File: TOTO LOZANO\/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Philippines is seemingly playing \u201csecond fiddle\u201d in the purchase of vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) because the country has \u201cno clout\u201d and is \u201cnot rich\u201d, President Rodrigo Duterte said late Monday night.<\/p>\n

Duterte made this remark after Health Secretary Francisco Duque III came under fire for allegedly having \u201cdropped the ball\u201d in negotiations with Pfizer on the delivery of the vaccines for the Philippines.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay I just explain to the public the reason why we — we seemed to be a second fiddle in these negotiations for the acquisition of vaccine. Second fiddle\u00a0nga tayo<\/em>\u00a0(We\u2019re second fiddle), it\u2019s because\u00a0\u2018yung mga mayaman na doon pa ginagawa sa kanila ang<\/em>\u00a0vaccine,\u00a0kagaya ng<\/em>\u00a0Pfizer, uunahin talaga ang Amerika<\/em>\u00a0(rich countries where vaccines are made, like those made by Pfizer, they will prioritize America),\u201d he said in a taped speech.<\/p>\n

He said there was \u201cno available\u201d vaccines from Pfizer for the Philippines, adding that \u201cit remains to be seen\u201d when the American pharmaceutical company could supply the country with.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us be clear on this, there is as yet no Pfizer vaccines available for the Philippines. And for a long time,\u00a0wala pa. Binabakunahan pa ang mga Amerikano lahat. Agawan sila ngayon sa Amerika<\/em>\u00a0(there won\u2019t be. They\u2019re vaccinating all Americans. They\u2019re scrambling to get them),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTayo (Us), well,\u00a0wala man tayo masyadong ano, \u2018yung pera lang natin pangbili lang talaga<\/em>\u00a0(we don\u2019t have that much money except enough to buy the vaccines) but we do not have the clout because we are not a rich nation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also reiterated that vaccine czar Carlito Galvez will be the only person-in-charge of handling the purchase of vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can negotiate, you can whatever, sign documents for the delivery. But at the end of the day,\u00a0isang tao lang talaga ang binigyan ko niyan, si<\/em>\u00a0(I gave the authority only to one person) General Galvez. It begins and ends at his table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Duterte said he was assured by Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez that there are enough funds to pay for the vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cSabi ni<\/em>\u00a0Avisado,\u00a0may pera daw. Sabi ni<\/em>\u00a0Dominguez,\u00a0may pera. Oh \u2018di kaya natin. So walang problema. Ano ba ang problemahin natin<\/em>\u00a0(Avisado said there\u2019s money. Dominguez said there\u2019s money. So we can do it. There\u2019s no problem. What are we worrying about)?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He urged the public to trust him as their elected President, instead of those that spin rumors to make the government look bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cMakinig lang kayo sa akin tutal ako man ang pinili — \u2018di ba ako ang hinalal ninyong Presidente<\/em>\u00a0(Just listen to me since I was the one chosen. I\u2019m the one you elected President, right)? So I am supposed to solve problems for you, for the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last week, Malaca\u00f1ang said Duterte asked Duque to answer allegations made by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin that he was responsible for the delay in the purchase of Pfizer vaccines.<\/p>\n

Duque earlier denied that he did not immediately prepare the necessary documents for the deal, noting that the government was still scrutinizing them.<\/p>\n

Roque earlier said that the Philippines may still acquire Pfizer\u2019s vaccine between the second and third quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The Philippines is seemingly playing \u201csecond fiddle\u201d in the purchase of vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) because the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":275904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[56599,9322],"class_list":["post-279432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-azer-parrocha","tag-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279432","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279433,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279432\/revisions\/279433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}