Charles Teves
Government officials confirmed the number one fear of the Filipino public, and that is the Philippines will be borrowing more money to purchase COVID-19 vaccines.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. revealed that the government sat down with international lending agencies like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank to make the Philippines a recipient of COVID-19 vaccines in next year’s distribution.
“Ang napag-agree-han para maging transparent at sure tayo na walang corruption and diligent ang gagawin natin, ang ating magiging procurement manager at funder ay ADB,” said Galvez during a press briefing.
Various countries enter multilateral and bilateral agreements so every signatory involved are given equal access to the vaccines,
Netizens weren’t too thrilled with the news because they know the future generation will have to pay the debt back to the lenders.
Utang na naman gobyerno pambayad ng COVID VACCINE?? Nasaan na yung ibang inutang?
Yung dolomite may budget, tapos sasabihin nyo matagal ng nakalaan yon..
Bakit yung ibang nakalaan na budget natapyasan pa para sa walang kwentang bagay? Tapos kapag kalusugan walang budget?? 🤡🤡
— ♒ EJ喜悦 (@XiyueXiyue) December 13, 2020
yung sa atin maghahanap pa ng mau-utangan!
walan-dyu talaga! paanu kung wala ring pera yung uutangan natin!
o kaya, ayaw na tayong pautangin kadi baun-na-baun na tayo!
mantakin mo 10 TRILLION na ang utang natin. wala pang 6 years yan a!
— Laurene II (@RenHu2) December 14, 2020
parang mali ata sa utang pa kukunin ang pambili ng vaccine? talagang mangulilat tayo niyan at kung walang mautang tiis muna? samantalang ang pera nakalaan sa budget para gamitin lang ng politiko at gobyerno sa pamumulitika nila?
— Bong Nojas (@bongski2x) December 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/ariannesumera/status/1338293737680564226?s=20
So true…ginamit nalang sana sa iba ang pera kesa magkautang utang gobyerno tapos nasa warehouse lang mga yan https://t.co/QyjlRaIFLU
— Ding Reyes (@realdivi) December 13, 2020
https://twitter.com/kingphilippe10/status/1338421577038389248?s=20
"The Philippines….. Months of talks with 17 companies from seven countries have yielded just one agreement, the 2.6 million-dose deal with AstraZeneca."
Tell me political will isn't important. At sa billions na utang natin, walang natira pambili ng vaccine? Tatay niyo corrupt
— 🅟 (@nefelibatagal) December 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/EllieCC/status/1338348258989539328?s=20
Roque went after Senator Franklin Drilon and Vice President Leni Robredo for allegedly politicking.
“Senator Drilon, Vice President, malayo pa po ang eleksyon, itigil muna ang pulitika. Tayo po ay makakautang na sa bilateral sources, multilateral sources para po sa P72.5 billion na kakailanganin,” said Roque.
Drilon previously questioned the the amount allotted by Congress for procurement under the General Appropriations Act.
P72.5 billion was designated to purchasing but the P70 billion lacks a funding source.
Robredo’s spokesperson Atty. Barry Gutierrez on the other hand said that the debt of the country will only increase if the Philippines keeps relying on unappropriated funding for COVID-19 vaccine procurement.
Roque explained that the P2.5 billion fund placed under the Department of Health’s budget will see the purchasing of syringes and other necessaries.
He said that specifying the total funding that would come from international lending agencies is important to comply with the country’s laws.
“Kaya po nilagay sa budget ‘yan (dahil) maski utangin, kung hindi nasa budget ay hindi puwedeng gastusin. Alam ni Senator Drilon ‘to and the vice president,” said Roque.
“They should know how the budget works,” he added.
The Bureau of Treasury states that for 2020 alone, the country already has a debt of P10.03 trillion which can be ascribed to COVID-19 response.
Galvez thinks that the Philippines will find itself on the “tailing end of the supply chain” if the government uses the appropriated fund from the national budget because the country is required to adhere to an advance commitment with COVID-19 vaccine developers by the end of the year.
So far, the government has already used around P50 billion from ADB allotted by the Department of Finance.
In order to increase funding, Galvez also said that the government could possibly borrow funds from the Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines, and other government-owned and controlled corporations.
