Handout/Presidential Photo/Simeon Celi
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has quashed attempts to investigate how members of his bodyguard received shots of a Chinese-developed coronavirus vaccine in September and October, when no vaccine had been approved or officially procured in the country to date.
An angry Duterte this week ordered Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III, head of the Presidential Security Group (PSG), and members of the elite bodyguard to “stay put in the barracks” and ignore a summons to appear before a planned Senate inquiry into the matter.
“To Congress, do not tinker with the PSG. Don’t force my hand. I am not keen to have Durante testify,” Duterte said in a nationally televised cabinet meeting that went late into the evening on Monday.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“Personally I don’t find anything wrong with giving the PSG vaccines. Trabaho nilang protektahan ang ating Pangulo, eh (Because it’s their job to protect our President). Trabaho nila protektahan ang ating Pangulo, na siguraduhin na hind siya malalagay sa alanganin, at kailangan ‘yon ng physical contact (It’s their job to protect our President, to make sure that he will not be in danger, and you need physical contact to do that),” Gatchalian said in a online press briefing.
“You cannot protect the President with social distancing. Kaya (That’s why) I don’t see any issue in giving the PSG priority,” he maintained.
Jan. 6, 2021 4:48 am ET
In September and October, members of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterteâs security detail got Covid-19 vaccines. But no shots had been approved for use in the countryâthen or now.
Lawmakers are trying to figure out how the vaccines were smuggled in.
The scandal emerged after Mr. Duterte said last month that several members of a military unit tasked with his personal protection had been vaccinated without his knowing. Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III, the unitâs commander, later said âa handfulâ of guards got the shots in September and October to protect the president from exposure to the virus.
Senator Richard Gordon said Presidential Security Group (PSG) chief Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III should consider resigning from his post for violating the law when he approved the inoculation of an unregistered COVID-19 vaccine on a handful of close-in security members of President Rodrigo Duterte.
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