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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he will accept only a government-to-government transaction for a COVID-19 vaccine, during a speech aired on Tuesday, October 27.

The Chief Executive rejected an arrangement where the government will purchase vaccines from the manufacturers or pharmaceutical companies themselves.

“Maganda sana government-to-government ang transaction. Walang corruption, wala lahat kasi government-to-government,” said Duterte during a meeting with coronavirus task force officials in Davao City.

(Government-to-government transaction is good. There’s no corruption because it’s government-to-government.)

He told Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to tell health department officials to prioritize a government-to-government arrangement. He rejected direct negotiations with businessmen or private corporations, saying these are prone to corruption.

“Ayaw ko ‘yung private persons, magbili tayo sa private Chinese businessmen. Diyan magkakaloko-lokohan eh,” said the President.

(I don’t like dealing with private persons, buying from private Chinese businessmen. That’s where the hocus pocus comes in.)

Duterte then cited an incident when a Chinese company didn’t agree with terms in a proposed deal with the Philippine government. It’s not clear which agreement or contract he was referring to as he did not elaborate on this incident.

The President has said he wants his administration to foot the bill for COVID-19 vaccinations for the entire Philippine population of around 109 million people.

Confident about China vaccines

But the Philippine leader said he was offering a government-to-government deal with China given news that at least 3 Chinese pharmaceutical companies are already in the advanced stages of testing their COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

He has spoken with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian about procuring one of these vaccines.

“We had a meeting with Ambassador Huang. He said that the vaccine is there. It will be in a matter of how to distribute and, of course, what kind of transaction would it be for them and for us. I said [government-to-government] for the Philippines because it will do away with corruption,” said Duterte.

It’s not clear how this latest presidential stance will affect the speed by which the government procures COVID-19 vaccines.

Philippine embassies in countries where companies are developing a COVID-19 vaccine have been dealing directly with these companies.

For instance, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said he has reached out to companies like Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, which all have COVID-19 vaccine candidates in the Phase 3 clinical trial stage. – Rappler.com