Senator Francis Pangilinan said Health Secretary Franciso Duque could face a graft case over his alleged negligence that cost the Philippines 10 million early doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.
“Kung totoo ito na nagkulang ang DOH (Department of Health), gross and inexcusable negligence sa anti-graft law ang posibleng kaso,” the senator said in a message.
“Huwag naman sana na may issue ng ‘kickvacc’ sa dropping of the ball ng Pfizer vaccine procurement,” he added.
Pangilinan said the Senate Committee of the Whole hearing on the vaccination program he scheduled would be a great opportunity to check if there is corruption and overpricing the government’s procurement of vaccines.
Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed that Health Secretary Francisco Duque’s failure cost the Philippines 10 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which was supposed to be delivered by January 2021.
Duque ‘dropped the ball’ in Pfizer vaccine deal
According to Lacson, he talked to Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez, about the matter. Romualdez arranged the meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. in which the purchase of the vaccines was discussed.
“Thus, they could have secured the delivery of 10 million Pfizer vaccines as early as January next year, way ahead of Singapore but for the indifference of Sec Duque who failed to work on the necessary documentary requirement namely, the Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement (CDA) as he should have done,” the senator said in a statement.
Lacson said Pfizer’s representative in the country was even following up on submitting such documentary requirements.
Romualdez, meanwhile, explained, “It took time for us to respond, so I called up the office of Secretary (Salvador) Medialdea and asked him if he can help us in getting that done, and it was in fact the office of Secretary (Francisco) Duque, so I guess that’s where this whole ‘dropping the ball’ issue came about,” referring to the phrase Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. used in a tweet about the missed vaccine deal.
“But nonetheless, Pfizer is still with us, and they’re still talking to us, and hopefully, we can get access to their vaccines. But the time for us to be able to get it earlier like Canada, Bahrain, and Singapore, and others is gone because we needed to act quickly,” he added.