Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday hit delays in signing tripartite agreements for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, saying that the government is showing a lack of urgency amid the pandemic.
In last week’s Talk to the People briefing, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said they are practicing “due diligence” in signing the tripartite deals to make sure that it will not violate any vaccination laws.
“Hindi po namin hino-hold at hindi po namin dine-delay. Ang ginagawa namin is due diligence [We are not holding nor delaying anything. What we are doing is due diligence],” said Galvez.
In reaction to this announcement, Robredo advised national government to not make it hard for local government units (LGUs) to procure COVID-19 vaccines.
“Hindi daw dine-delay, tinitignan kung hindi mapapasama ang LGUs sa kontrata pero kung ganito ang rason wala tayong sense of urgency,” she added.
[They said they are not delaying it as they are checking if LGUs will have liabilities in the contracts but if these are the reasons, then we don’t have a sense of urgency.]
“Okay naman yung due diligence pero ang tagal na. Early last year, nag-allocate ng pondo ang mga LGUs, hanggang ngayon hindi pa napipirmahan,” she later pointed out.
[Due diligence is okay but it has been too long. The LGUs allocated these funds early last year and until now the deals they have passed to the national government have not yet been signed.]
Senator Miguel Zubiri has sought an investigation into the tripartite deals as more LGUs lament the delays. — BM, GMA News
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