Roque: Palace confident Congress will pass bill allowing LGUs to buy COVID-19 vaccines via advance payment

The Palace is counting on Congress to pass the measure amending the Government Procurement law to allow local government units (LGUs) to make advance payments to vaccine manufactures for COVID-19 vaccine purchase, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Friday.

Roque was responding to the concerns of the LGUs which already earmarked funding for COVID-19 vaccine procurement but cannot proceed to buying the COVID-19 vaccines since the procurement law bars them from disbursing payment pending delivery of goods.

“Dahil nga po ipinagbabawal ito, inaasahan naman natin na susuportahan nung mga mambabatas natin ang pag-amyenda sa Government Procurement Act para lang magbayad ng advance payment. Ito po ay nakahain na sa parehong Senado at sa House,” Roque said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

Roque said such restriction is the reason why the lion’s share of the P82-billion budget for COVID-19 vaccine procurement is sourced from the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, but added that the national government will not get in the way of the LGUs’ efforts in securing COVID-19 vaccines for their respective constituents.

“Hindi po natin inaasahan na kinailangan pang gumastos ng mga lokal na pamahalaan, pero hindi po natin pinipigilan ang mga lokal na pamahalaan. At sa pamamagitan ng batas na ito [na nag-aamyenda sa Government Procurement law], inaasahan natin na darami pa ang [COVID-19 vaccine] supply natin,” Roque pointed out.

Roque, however, assured the public that the national government has enough budget to buy COVID-19 vaccines for all.

“Whether or not the LGUs will purchase on their own, ang national government po ay handang bumili talaga para sa lahat. Ang budget po ay para sa lahat,” Roque said.

Dr. Antonio Dans of the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 earlier warned against such expeditious procurement of COVID-19 vaccines for LGUs, saying such move will lead to unequal access to COVID-19 vaccines since not all LGUs have enough resources to purchase COVID-19 vaccines.

The first batch of at least 117,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX facility is expected to arrive in the country within the month.

Those first in line to get these vaccines are those workers in health facilities, specifically those in COVID-19 referral hospitals in Metro Manila, as well as cities of Cebu and Davao which are equipped to store Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that require a -70 to -80 degrees Celsius storage.