Duterte sees 'gray area' in mayors jumping line for COVID-19 vaccine shots

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday indicated that he was of two minds on whether to accept the excuse of local chief executives who had themselves inoculated against COVID-19 even if they didn't count as health care workers.

Duterte made the remark after several mayors were ordered to explain why they received COVID-19 vaccines when the government had yet to complete the inoculation of health care workers as provided in its priority list.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government has said that it sent show cause orders to the following:

• Mayor Alfred Romualdez of Tacloban City, Leyte
• Mayor Dibu Tuan of T’boli, South Cotabato
• Mayor Sulpicio Villalobos of Sto. Nino, South Cotabato
• Mayor Noel Rosal of Legazpi City, Albay
• Mayor Abraham Ibba of Bataraza, Palawan

Duterte also mentioned that the following local chief executives also got vaccine doses ahead of medical frontline workers:

• Mayor Elenito Pena of Minglanilla, Cebu
• Mayor Victoriano Torres III of Alicia, Bohol
• Mayor Virgilio Mendez of San Miguel, Bohol
• Mayor Arturo "Jed" Piollo II of  Lila, Bohol

According to the Palace's prioritization list, vaccinations must start with frontline health workers.

This is followed by indigent senior citizens, remaining senior citizens, remaining indigent population, and uniformed personnel.

"Ang sabi nila, ito yung mga rason nila, I think that is the universal excuse na para di matakot ang mag constituents. Well, ako medyo gray area yan," Duterte said.

[Their reason, I think, is the universal excuse that they wanted to remove the fear of their constituents. For me that's a gray area.]

"Dapat talaga ang una... Whether or not  the jumping of COVID-19 line of vaccination would require certain amount of a legal study," he added.

[The first ones should be... Whether or not the jumping of COVID-19 line of vaccination would  require a certain amount of legal study.]

"If the purpose is to really show to the constituents that [the vaccine] is safe, hindi ko maano masyado, I see that there is a gray area there," Duterte said.

[If the purpose is to really show their constituents that the vaccine is safe, I see that there is a gray area there.] 

Duterte said he had been warned by the World Health Organization (WHO) the country might lose vaccine donations from the COVAX facility if the priority list wasn't followed.

"If you do not follow the list of priority you might lose the assistance of the WHO. It is quite clear to us," Duterte said.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) had the "jurisdiction" to send show cause orders against the errant mayors who got vaccinated.

But Duterte said Duque's subordinates were also responsible for the priority listing issues, adding that the nation's health department must conduct an investigation on the violators of the vaccine priority list.

"Ultimate person responsible for this are the city health workers, provincial health workers," Duterte said.

"To make the long story short, execute an affidavit on the result of investigation and then send it to the Ombudsman," he told Duque.

At one point, Duterte said he was supposed to be the first to get the vaccine doses but instead had to "wait."

"Kasi nga nung una sinasabi, magpaturok ako, dapat ako ang mauna. They forgot na ako yung sa mga, yung category ko, hindi na nga kailangan eh, hayaan na lang kami. So I had to wait," Duterte said in apparent reference to his being a senior.

[At first there was talk that I should go first. They forgot that people in my category no longer needed it, that we were supposed to be left out. So I had to wait.]

In a statement, the City of Tacloban said Romualdez volunteered to be inoculated to heighten vaccination confidence among their residents.

“We would like to state for the record that Mayor Romualdez volunteered to be publicly vaccinated with Sinovac vaccine in order to boost confidence in the vaccination program of the government," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Duterte also raised the issue of the distribution of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) as he discussed the apparent prioritization of some government officials in the COVID-19 vaccination program.

“Remember ‘yung pera pantawid mag-aabot sa beneficiairies, turned out later that some non-beneficiaries, ‘yung hindi kasali nabigyan, at worse, nakihati pa ang barangay captains,” Duterte said, referring to the cash doles.

“I’m sorry to say na ‘yun umabot sa amin nakademanda na and it is really… hindi pa nabigay kasi kinuha na ninyo. That is malversation of public funds,” he added. -with a report from Hana Bordey/NB, GMA News