'Imbento,' Sotto says of Roque for describing senators as war-like

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday denied that senators had been aggressive towards the executive branch officials during the Committee of the Whole's inquiry on the government's COVID-19 immunization program.

This, after presidential spokesperson Harry Roque claimed in an interview that senators had a "war-like" and "bellicose-like" demeanor during the hearings conducted last week.

"I wonder if Secretary Roque watched the hearing for nine hours. Tell me when, what time and who was war like or even was shouting to any of the resource persons. Imbento!" Sotto told reporters in a Viber message.

The Senate hearing last Friday lasted for several hours as lawmakers tried to scrutinize the government's negotiations with vaccine makers. They were unable to get the exact prices of the vaccines, though, as officials in charge of the procurement invoked non-disclosure agreements.

"I painstakingly stayed for the entire duration and I do not recall any senator to be war-like. Perhaps argumentative but not war-like. Why? Does he expect us to treat our resource persons with tender loving care?" Sotto added.

Roque should not "drum up situations that never happened," according to the Senate leader as he underscored that both the executive and legislative branches want the greater good for Filipinos regarding the vaccine rollout.

On Tuesday, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the Philippines will lose its 148 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines if the prices of the vaccines will be disclosed at this point.

President Rodrigo Duterte later instructed Galvez to share the details of the vaccine agreements of the governments to Sotto for transparency, Senator Bong Go said Tuesday night.

As of Wednesday morning, Sotto has yet to receive word from Galvez.

The Senate will hold another hearing on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout this coming Friday. —KG, GMA News