Money for Covid-19 vaccines still in the banks—Duterte

By Kristine Gaile Gregorio

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President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday restated that the mandated loans the Philippines made to purchase Covid-19 vaccines are still in the banks.

In a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members, Duterte said that the money stays with the multilateral lenders and the government does not carry the money as cold cash.

Duterte justified the administration’s financial planning for the vaccines, considering that they had to borrow funds from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to support the vaccine rollout.

"The money is still in the hands of the bank, and they collect, 'yung nagpabili sa atin ng bakuna (those that sold us the vaccine), from the bank," he explained.

"It's the bank that will pay, upon our advice, na na-deliver na 'yung bakuna (that the vaccines have been delivered)," Duterte added.

He clarified that the government has not used “a single centavo’ from the loan budget because they have yet to receive the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.

“Ang buong akala kasi nila yung pera na bilyon bilyon na ibinigay nila nandiyan na sa kamay natin (They must have thought that the billions they gave us are in our hands), that is cold cash. Sinasabi na natin (We keep saying) time and again that the money is with the lending bank still so we have not used any single centavo because as a matter of fact about the vaccines that we are going to buy pero donated ito lahat sa ngayon (but what we have now is all donated),” he said.

At the start of the initial vaccination rollout last March 1, the 600,000 doses of vaccines that were donated by the Chinese drugmaker Sinovac and 525,600 doses from COVAX facility, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global vaccine sharing scheme were being used by the government.

Sinovac-produced CoronaVac vaccines, the ones that were purchased by the government, have said to arrive this week and would be the time for the banks to pay the vaccine manufacturer. “It’s the bank who will pay upon our advice na nadeliver na yung bakuna. Hindi tayo ang magpunta, sila through paperwork (that the vaccines have been delivered. We won’t pay for them, it’s them paying through paperwork),” Duterte added.

A week ago, Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson questioned the promptness of the government’s procurement of Covid-19 vaccines in the midst of billions of pesos in loans the country has borrowed for the pandemic response.

On Twitter, Lacson disclosed a list of the country’s loans from several organizations and demanded for the vaccines.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque opposed Lacson’s question, declaring there is no government official who can access the funds.

Meanwhile, Duterte lessened the worries that there is an ongoing corruption in the government’s finance scheme.

“If you are afraid of corruption let your mind go easy because these things are not susceptible to anything. The money is in the hands of the bank and they collect, yung nagpabili sa’tin ng bakuna (the vaccine manufacturers collect), from the bank. Hindi sa atin na pumunta ‘yan kay [Finance Secretary] Sonny Dominguez na bubuksan niya yung drawer tapos sasabihin niya ‘Eto na yung pambayad.’ Hindi ho (It doesn’t pass through us or Sonny Dominguez where he can just open his drawer and say ‘Here’s the payment.’ It’s not like that),” he said.

Earlier this month, the Asian Development Bank approved a $400-million or P24-billion loan to help the Philippines purchase Covid-19 vaccines.