NOT ONLY President Rodrigo Duterte’s SALNs or Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth is highly secretive, even the prices of Covid-19 vaccines are unknown to the public.
And Senator Ping Lacson is asking
the Duterte administration to reveal the prices of the vaccines and even
questioned why the government is focused on purchasing China’s
Sinovac vaccines rather than other brands that have higher efficacy.
Duterte previously said that the
government cannot make public the contract price of Sinovac and the Department
of Health (DOH) also invokes confidentiality in the prices of Covid-19 vaccines.
In an interview with ABS-CBN, Lacson said
government officials could no longer invoke non-disclosure agreements as a
reason for not disclosing the price of Covid-19 vaccines. He said the
Senate would not let the query pass during the DOH budget deliberation.
“Tinanong namin iyan eh pero walang sagot. Pero
sa plenaryo palagay ko hindi na namin palulusutin kasi nabili na iyan eh.
Nagastos na ang pera ng gobyerno eh ano pa ba ang iinvoke nating NDA, iyong
non-disclosure agreement?” Lacson asked.
Lacson said they wanted to know why the
government purchased more Sinovac vaccines than other brands.
And data collated by the ABS-CBN Investigative
and Research Group showed that out of the nearly 109 million Covid-19 vaccines
that arrived in the country, some 44.5 million are from Sinovac.
Lacson also raised the possibility of
overpricing, “if Sinovac vaccines were bought through the indicative price of
P3,629.50 for two doses compared to the cheaper price with which Thailand and
Indonesia reportedly were able to secure.”
The DOH in January released a statement saying
that the circulating vaccine prices were indicative market prices based on the
rates published by different manufacturers generated for the purpose of
estimating the proposed budget for the vaccination program. These, it said, are
not, in any way, the negotiated prices that the government and the manufacturer
agreed on.
“Ang kwenta ko eh ang overprice aabot siya ng
mga P15.8 billion, doon pa lamang sa 25 million doses. Sana hindi natuloy iyon.
Kasi noong sa Committee on the whole na-presided ni Tito Sen (Senator Tito
Sotto), maliwanag na susundan daw nila iyong mismong presyo pero wala kaming
nakikita,” Lacson said.
“Bakit tayo naka-focus doon sa Sinovac? Iyon
lang ba ang available? Mukhang hindi naman. So iyon ang dapat natin tignan
kapag tinalakay na natin ang budget kasi after all pandemic ito tapos budget na
nanggaling sa buwis natin ito at nanggaling sa utang. Nasaan ba naman ang kaluluwa
mo pagka sa gitna ng paghihirap, pagdurusa ng mga kababayan eh, kapwa mong mga
Pilipino eh pagkakakitaan mo?” he asked.
Lacson hopes that the vaccines were not
overpriced and that the allocated funds intended to address the pandemic were
used judiciously. “Wala pa tayong nakita pruweba na kung mayroon ba talagang
overpricing. Ang pinag-babasehan lang natin ang sinubmit nilang presyo na
napakataas, base doon sa presyo na lumabas na bili ng ibang bansa. Pero hindi
pa natin alam dahil hindi pa nila sinasabi kung magkano tala ang pagkabili.
Nandoon tayo ngayon sa sitwasyon na ganoon. So huwag naman sana. Lahat tayo
nananalangin na sana tama lang ang pagkabili natin ng bakuna,” he said.
In January, Lacson also raised the same issue
after noting the sharp differences in the prices of Sinovac vaccines in the
country compared to other nations. He noted that while Sinovac's product may
cost as little as $5 (about P240) per dose, it may cost as much as a whopping
$38 (more than P1,800) in the Philippines.
Lacson cited a news article on Bangkok Post
dated January 16, 2021 - citing figures from the World Health Organization and
from the manufacturers - indicated the price of Sinovac was only $5 per dose.
However, during the budget deliberations last November, the DOH provided the
Senate Committee on Finance the data on the Sinovac price which was P3,629.50
for two doses.
“The difference in prices of Sinovac vaccine at $5, $14 and $38 reminds me of an old story about how corruption is committed in three Southeast Asian countries - under the table, on the table, and including the table,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
