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MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte told Vaccine Czar Carlito Gálvez Jr. to “get up and go” if senators become “verbally abusive” during hearings on the Covid-19 vaccination program, Malacañang said on Wednesday.
According to presidential spokesman Harry Roque, Gálvez had asked the president to skip congressional hearings to resume negotiations with vaccine developers.
“In fairness to the president, his response was, ‘No, go to the Senate, continue answering questions, continue in the way you’ve been answering. And if they become verbally abusive to you, just get up and go. If you are cited with contempt, I will come find you, ‘”Roque said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
“So Secretary Gálvez and Secretary Duque, if the Senate is going to have a hearing this Friday, they will be there but with the instruction that if someone becomes verbally abusive to them, they have the license to get up and leave,” he added.
Duterte lamented the “warlike” behavior of the senators during the vaccine hearings, Roque said.
“He (Duterte) could not understand why the behavior of some senators was apparently bellicose, they were warriors. Of course, there was already an attitude as if there was corruption when the facts were investigated, ”said the Palacio official.
“The president thought, despite the separation of powers, despite the oversight power, he does not give the senators the license to be abusive,” he continued.
Meanwhile, Duterte has already tasked Gálvez with revealing the government’s vaccine agreements to Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
The prices of the Covid-19 vaccines that the government is procuring remain undisclosed despite previous Senate hearings, as officials cited the confidential disclosure agreement (CDA) with pharmaceutical companies.
/ MUF
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