Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said Thursday senators are still not informed of the real cost of the COVID-19 vaccines procured by the government during the height of the pandemic. That’s despite the Senate blue ribbon committee already conducting an executive session last Wednesday.
“Tapatin ko kayo. Hindi ko pa rin nalaman ang presyo ng lahat. Kahit na nag-executive session kami, but I will ask the chairman kung ano ba ang hawak niya,” Pimentel said in an interview.
(I will be honest with you, up to now I still don’t know the price of all the vaccines even though we had an executive session but I will ask the chairman on the details that he has.)
“May iba d’on na nabanggit ang mga amounts pero until ma-authorize kami na magsalita then saka na pwede (ilabas),” he added.
(There were some amounts mentioned but until we are authorized to talk about it, we cannot release the information.)
The executive session was part of the Senate blue ribbon committee’s investigation into the alleged refusal of the Department of Health to release the details of the vaccine procurement contracts on the pretext of non-disclosure agreements with the pharmaceutical companies.
“Next time nga we will also question the propriety, the correctness of entering into NDA. Ba’t kailangan ‘yan? Una sa lahat presyo ng bakuna, binebenta sa buong mundo (at) ang pambayad natin public funds. Ba’t kailangan sikreto ‘yung halaga?” Pimentel said.
(Next time we will also question the propriety, the correctness of entering into NDA. Why is it needed? First of all, the vaccines are sold all over the world and we are paying it with public funds. Why do they have to keep the price secret?
He argued that the NDA only prohibits the DOH to disclose the prices of COVID-19 shots to the public but not to the Senate, which is part of the branch of the government that authorizes the use of funds for any procurement.
“Imagine mo, NDA ginagamit not to divulge to the Senate? Wala dapat sikreto sa ating mga policymakers. Otherwise, kung may sikreto, magkakamali kami sa decision namin kasi may sikreto eh,” he quipped.
(Imagine, NDA is being used not to divulge details to the Senate. There should be no secret with the policymakers because we might end up with a wrong decision if they are keeping secrets from us.)
Pimentel also questioned this practice of big pharmaceutical firms.
“Hindi ko naintindihan these big pharmas bakit kailangan nakatago(I can’t understand why they are keeping it a secret)?… So, that means they are selling at different prices to different countries. So, ano ‘to pinaglalaruan nila tayo sa pricing nila?” he asked.
Citing Blue Ribbon committee chairman Francis Tolentino, Pimentel said the panel will continue with the hearings and will come out with a committee report.
During the first Blue Ribbon hearing on the NDAs with the government, DOH officer-in-charge Ma. Rosario Vergeire explained that some pharmaceutical companies did not agree to disclose the specifics of their contracts for the COVID-19 vaccines procurement.
In December, the DOH submitted several documents related to the national government’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement to the Commission on Audit.
The issue on the NDAs was revived during the deliberations of the 2023 budget in November when Senator Francis Escudero asked how the COA conducted the audit on the appropriations and borrowings that were allocated for vaccine procurement when there were no reports from the agencies involved.
Senator Sonny Angara, who was defending COA’s budget, said the agency conducted an audit on the quantity and the utilization of the vaccines but not on the actual funds that were used for the procurement.
Angara said COA “felt restrained” by the NDAs at first but since Escudero raised the issue, the state auditors realized that they are not bound by the NDAs as they are not a party to the agreement. He then told Escudero that the COA will assert its legal right and gather more information about the procurement. —VAL/AOL, GMA Integrated News
Pimentel: Prices of all COVID-19 vaccines not divulged during Blue Ribbon exec session
Source: Balita News
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