Sabotaging Vaccine and Economic Prospects

SUCCESS and victory in the COVID-19 war for the Duterte administration is right around the corner. This may be surprising to readers given the present ‘second wave rolling infection rate’ crisis facing the country today.

But the booming start of China’s Sinovac vaccine deliveries give realistic cause for optimism as the deliveries in just one month alone have reached 2-million doses.

Half of the 2-million doses is donated by China, part of President Xi Jinping making its vaccines “global public good” and prioritizing the Philippines.

This allowed the Duterte government to kick off its vaccination offensive on schedule in March, while Sinovac promises to deliver 3-million doses every month until December 2021 to complete 25-million by the end of the year.

This vaccine humanitarianism of China for the Philippines is a historically pivotal point in the Philippines on-going mission of the nation to recover from the virus and the massive economic dislocation it has caused.

With the completion of the vaccination program, 2022 will see the light at the end of the tunnel as the fear and loathing of the virus lifts and consumption, trade and tourism revive.

The latest and most massive disinformation campaign of the Americans using its “mad dogs” in the Philippine political milieu, the mainstream media and its “Amboy” friends in the military establishment (that every knowledgeable person knows still proliferate in the institution and among its retired personnel) set the stage for the fake and twisted story of “Chinese maritime militia” at Whitsun Reef.

To recap in one paragraph, the Task Force-West Philippines Sea (TF-WSP) reported 220 Chinese fishing boats as “… believed to be manned by militia personnel,” the Yellow media proceeded to spin this into an “invasion” and all sorts of “cry wolf” headlines.

We can see how a baseless, speculative claim of the TF-WPS report can be spun into a mass psychological-political doomsday scenario by the media.

For three weeks, the spinning machine weaves lies upon lies of China allegbedly intending to set up structures on Whitsun Reef (while the Yellow media feign ignorance of 5 Vietnamese military structures around the same Union Banks where Whitsun Reef is), demanding the 220 fishing boats leave; and when the boats leave to fish as promised they would by the Chinese embassy the “American dogs bark” up another issue.

When only 40 Chinese fishing boats are left awaiting their opportunity to resume fishing, the demand became “all must leave immediately” and isolated by drummed up calls for “joint patrol with the US” are pushed by the likes of Cong. Rufus Rodriguez or the clowns of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations president Col. Alejandro Flores (ret.) and clown Rafael Alunan III.

The AFP’s assessment of Philippines security threats have been made clear by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, who, in November 2020, told the Senate, “We benefit from China as a market and we are getting projects.. We are not at war with China… the imminent threats are insurgency, pandemic…” Yet, the brains of the “Chinese militia boats” fake news would make China out as the main threat.

At the same time there are ridiculous, spurious maligning of Sinovac by the likes of Manila Times columnist Yen Makabenta who used a Falun Gong (anti-China cult) mouthpiece the Epoch Times to blacken Sinovac’s reputation, or Alex Magno of the Star with a half-baked story from Chile.

Sinovac has been administered to almost 150-million people, 90-million in China alone, and includes world leaders like Turkey’s President Erdogan and UAE PM Rashid Al Muhammad.

The Philippines’ Vaccine Panel has just approved Sinovac for elderly citizens, that is 60 years old and above, who desperately need immunization.

Are trash hacks going to be more believable than our vaccine and medical experts who meticulously review studies and trails?

China is an invaluable friend, partner and brother, and no amount of fake news is ever going to change that.

(Herman Tiu Laurel is an author, writer and founder of the Phil-BRICS Strategic Studies think tank. Join his: “Power Thinks” with Ka Mentong Laurel and guests – Every Wednesday 6pm Live on Global Talk News Radio [GTNR] on Facebook and Talk News TV on YouTube; and Every Sunday 8 to 10am on RP1 738 on your AM radio dial.)