Duterte should be ‘more diplomatic’, not threaten US over COVID-19 vaccines: Lacson

MANILA – Senator Panfilo Lacson warned on Monday that President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to expel US soldiers from the Philippines in exchange for COVID-19 vaccines from the United States was “unfortunate.”

The president could have taken a “more diplomatic” approach instead of “sounding like we were blackmailing” the former ally of the Philippines, Lacson said in a statement.

“Such a pronouncement by the president is regrettable to say the least,” he said.

“Treating Americans like a bunch of gang members could have sealed our fate of settling for China’s Sinovac instead of the American-made Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines,” he added.

Duterte, who had long beaten the United States for alleged interference in Philippine affairs, including human rights issues, said Saturday that he would end the country’s military pact with the United States if it does not deliver the COVID-19 vaccines.

“The Visiting Forces Agreement is over. Now if I don’t agree, they will definitely leave. If they don’t deliver at least 20 million vaccines, they better leave. Without vaccine, they won’t stay here,” Duterte said. at a meeting attended by the Interagency Working Group (IATF) on COVID-19 mitigation.

(The VFA is nearing its end. If I don’t approve it, they will be expelled. If they don’t deliver a minimum of 20 million vaccines, they better leave.)

Duterte had ordered the termination of the VFA earlier this year, after Washington invoked the American Magnitsky Act and denied Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa a US visa.

In June, Duterte filed the repeal of the VFA and renewed it in November.

The Philippine government had said it plans to obtain 25 million doses of Sinovac from China next year despite reports that the company has a history of bribing Chinese drug regulators to obtain approval to conduct clinical trials.

The Sinovac vaccine is also more expensive than vaccines made in the US at P3,629.50 for 2 doses. Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine costs P2,379 for 2 doses, while Novavax is pegged at P366 for only 2 doses, according to a presentation earlier this month by Senator Sonny Angara.

“What is more unfortunate is that we had a good opportunity to get the vaccines early in the US, but someone on our side dropped the ball and has not yet been held responsible to this day,” Lacson said.

The Philippines was supposed to source about 10 million COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer by early 2021, but the deal fell through after Health Secretary Francisco Duque III failed to submit the necessary documents on time.

Instead of demanding that the United States give the Philippines vaccines, Duterte should have “threatened China” to stop selling “inferior vaccines,” opposition Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said in a tweet.

“Perhaps our citizens would be better off if, instead, it threatened China not to sell us more expensive but less effective or inferior vaccines,” he said.

While lawmakers allocated about P72.5 billion in the 2021 budget for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines next year, the Philippines lags behind its regional peers in procuring the drug.

Singapore is the first Asian country to receive Pfizer-BioNTech injections after approving the companies’ vaccine.

Duque had said that the Philippines expects to begin inoculation in March 2021.

RELATED VIDEOS