AFP calls off probe on PSG inoculation

The Armed Forces of the Philippines is calling off its fact-finding investigation on the controversial inoculation of some members of the Presidential Security Group.

According to AFP spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo, the development came following the recent pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The probe, which was supposed to be led by AFP Inspector General Lieutenant General Franco Nemecio Gacal, was supposed to begin today, January 5. 

On Monday night, Duterte said he would order the PSG to keep silent as regards the inoculation of some of its members with unregistered COVID-19 vaccines if its officials would be summoned to a Senate inquiry.

Senator Franklin Drilon earlier said PSG chief Brigadier General Jesus Durante III should appear before the Senate to shed light on the issue. 

But for Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Durante should present himself in another Senate hearing and not on the one about the government's plan on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout scheduled on January 11.

On Tuesday, Sotto maintained that the PSG won’t be summoned on the scheduled January 11 hearing.

"Bakit hindi niya papayagan? Pinapatawag ko ba? Last time I heard, ako [ang] chairman. Bakit iniiba ang topic ng hearing ko which is the roadmap of the P72.5B for vaccines?" Sotto said in a message to reporters.

"Who in heaven’s name told him I’m calling for the PSG? I think the President is being misled,"  he added.

Shut up

Duterte earlier said he would order the PSG to just shut up when invited to a Senate hearing.

"If that is the case then I would ask the PSG to just shut up. Do not answer. Invoke the right against self-incrimination at wala kayong makukuha and do not force my soldiers to testify against their will," Duterte said in his weekly address to the nation.

The President even warned that there would be a crisis between the Executive and Legislative branches if the lawmakers would use its contempt powers against the PSG.

"'Wag ninyong i-contempt contempt na i-detain ninyo. I do not think that it will be good for you and for me it would not be healthy for everybody," he added. 

Duterte also denied that he was privy to the circumstances of the PSG's inoculation process. Moreover, he insisted that he was not inoculated with the vaccine used on his security escorts. 

Some members of the PSG were already vaccinated against COVID-19 despite the absence of a Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccine in the country.

It was Duterte himself over the holidays who first revealed that some soldiers had received shots of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinopharm group.

According to Durante, the vaccine was obtained for free. He did not mention where the vaccine was sourced but Duterte earlier said the vaccine used on soldiers was from the Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm. 

Durante explained that Duterte's close-in security escorts were inoculated to protect the Chief Executive from all kinds of threats, including the pandemic. 

Smuggled

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also believed that the vaccines used by the PSG personnel were smuggled. However, he noted that it was not a breach of security as the intention of the PSG was good. 

The vaccination sparked criticisms even among healthcare workers who were said to be the priority of the government's vaccination program. 

Lorenzana has vowed that medical personnel are still on the top of the list of who will be prioritized in the official rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country. 

Senator Richard Gordon called on Durante to resign from his post, saying that PSG members allegedly violated the law against smuggling as the FDA has yet to approve the registration of any vaccine against COVID-19.

Durante has not commented yet on the call for him to quit from his post. —RSJ/KG, GMA News