‘People need to know where their money went’
SEN. Francis Tolentino yesterday said the Blue Ribbon Committee is prepared to conduct an investigation to determine details of the government’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement and the reported wastage of about 44 million vaccine doses.
In an interview with radio dzBB, Tolentino said the Filipino people have the right to know where and how their taxes were spent, particularly in relation to the vaccines, and why at least 44 million vaccine doses just went to waste.
He said the Blue Ribbon Committee has plans to conduct an investigation on these matters but the inquiry might be held next year yet as it is already nearing the Holiday break.
“It will good for Filipinos to know where their money went, especially because the Department of Health said there is wastage of about 44 million doses, part of which were procured by the private sector and local government units,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
The DOH last Friday said vaccine wastage has reached 44 million doses, up by 13 million doses from last week. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, DOH officer-in-charge, explained that vaccine inventory is being conducted every day.
Tolentino said he welcomes an audit to be conducted by the Commission on Audit to determine how much was spent on the government procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.
Tolentino said concerned government agencies cannot invoke the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) entered into by the Philippine government with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers and suppliers, in refusing to share documents regarding the vaccine procurement.
Tolentino said NDAs cover only the manufacturers’ trade and industrial secret and patents as concerned agencies like the DOH, Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, and the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases should provide the documents because people’s money was used to buy COVID-19 vaccines.
“We are interested because this is of public interest, the people’s money was used here. So, I hope that this (COVID-19 vaccine procurement) can be audited… I also would like to see that NDA because to my understanding, most NDAs are valid for one to two years only),” he said.
Last week, Commission on Audit Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said former Health Secretary Francisco Duque III did not allow DOH to share documents COA needs for its audit, citing the NDA as reason. Cordoba also said the DOH itself was the one which requested for the audit based on the mandate provided by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank which lent the Philippine money to purchase vaccines.
To his recollection, Tolentino said, the Philippine government has released P115 billion for the COVID-19 vaccine procurement as of June 2022 but other reports said it has reached P300 billion.
He said Pfizer tops the list of the most number of vaccine doses procured, at 93.7 million, followed by Sinovac at 66.12 million doses, AstraZeneca with 38.85 million doses, Moderna at 33.08 million doses, and other vaccine brands like Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V, and Sinopharm with the least procured.
“The people want to know if the borrowed money was properly used because there were reports of around 44 million vaccine doses wasted. We also need to know how much the government bought per dose of vaccine… The NDA usually ends in two years’ time and it protects the pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, its trade and industrial secrets,” he said.
“We are not interested in their trade and industrial secrets. What we are interested in are the prices because it varies… We learned that a dose of Pfizer vaccine used in Latin American countries costs $12 per dose, while AstraZeneca was at $6 per dose. So, we need to know,” he added.
Tolentino, who is a lawyer, said there are three instances when an NDA cannot be used as reason to withhold documents related to the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.
One is when the information is already a public knowledge; two is when information on the procured vaccines came from a third party, and not from the DOH or IATF; and three, when asked by authorities like the Blue Ribbon Committee or the Commission on Audit.
So, there is no reason why the NDA should not be shared,” he said.
