Marcos aghast over government’s move to ‘cripple’ vaccine program

SENATOR Imee Marcos expressed dismay over the concerted effort by the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force against Covid-19 to “cripple” the national vaccination program by recommending to Pres. Durterte not to allow the country’s beverage and tobacco companies to purchase vaccines simply for their engaging in the manufacture of so-called ‘sin products.’

In a statement last March 20, 2021, Marcos, chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, said that a draft administrative order prepared by the DOH and the task force for the signature of the President would effectively prevent the country’s largest manufacturers of tobacco, milk, sugar, soda, and alcohol, as well as multinational firms based in the Philippines from assisting in the government’s national vaccination program.

“That means the entire San Miguel group, the whole Lucio Tan group, Puregold, Nestle, Destileria Limtuaco, all soft drinks producers, Tanduay, Ginebra, White Castle, et cetera,” Marcos pointed out.

Marcos made her sentiment known amidst the background of rising Covid infections in the country with a surge of 7,999 new cases last March 20, 2021, the highest surge in a single day since last year and amidst the very slow inoculation  campaign, with not even one percent of the 70 percent population target being vaccinated, according to the DOH’s own figures.

“Kapag di makabili ng mga bakuna itong mga malahiganteng kumpanyang ito, na 50 percent ido-donate sa publiko dahil walang pera ang gobyerno, paano pa tayo makakadagdag ng bakuna,” Marcos added.

Marcos explained that the hare-brained proposal “will not only slow down the vaccination of the targeted 70 percent of Filipinos to achieve herd immunity this year” but also, diminish the government’s ability to generate much needed revenue to fund its national vaccination program.

“We are about to see a total wipeout of the 50-percent donation of vaccines by these large companies, donations which are stipulated in each tripartite agreement among private entities, vaccine manufacturers and the government,” Marcos said.

Senate President Vicente Sotto also did not minced words in criticizing the proposal, saying the executives at the DOH and the IATF are being ‘self-righteous’ in denying these companies access to the vaccines just because they are liquor and cigarettes, two products whose consumption are being discouraged by Pres. Duterte.

But Marcos also pointed out that the companies are the “biggest contributors to the government coffers through excise taxes.”

“How ironic that this administrative order was conceived amid a shocking spike in Covid-19 cases and just weeks away from the tax payment deadline in April,” Marcos added.

Section 5 of the administrative order states that the NTF and the DOH shall review all requests of private entities to procure vaccines “to ensure that private entities who will be part of the agreement are not in any way related to the tobacco industry, products covered under EO 51 series of 1986 or the “National Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, Breastmilk Supplement and Other Related Products” or other products in conflict with public health.”

Marcos also cited Binondo-based Chinese newspapers reporting that NTF chief Carlito Galvez Jr. disapproved the vaccine importation requests of members of the three largest Filipino-Chinese chambers of commerce.

Earlier, Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. lamented via a ‘Twitter’ post that the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FCCCII) was being blocked from importing 500,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine, ‘Sinovac,’ despite the deal already being signed.

“The (proposed) administrative order totally contradicts the ‘shared responsibility’ and collaboration the government has sought from the private sector and other organizations through its Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for Covid-19,” Marcos lamented.