Sen. Panfilo Lacson refused to confirm or deny if he has been vaccinated against COVID-19.
(SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Lacson, in an interview with radio DZBB, said Senate President Vicente Sotto III’s claim Saturday that he and House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez have already been injected with a COVID-19 vaccine and are already immune from the disease might only be a joke.
“Kapag tinanggi ko, lalabas na sinungaling si SP. Pero alam mo kaming mga senador pag nasa lounge kami, lalo na kung stressed out kami, lalo mahigit isang linggo kami sa budget, wala kaming ginawa kundi magbiruan ng biruan. May kanya-kanyang trip (If I deny it, the Senate President will come out as a liar. But you know, we senators when we stay at the lounge, especially when we are stressed out, because we spent one week tackling the budget, we don't do anything but to tell jokes. Everyone has their own joke),” Lacson said.
“Minsan hindi mo na alam ano ang totoo at ano ang hindi sa biruan namin (Sometimes, you wouldn’t know which is true and which isn’t when we tell jokes),” he added.
“Ako ang isang trip ko, kilala nila ako isang trip ko gustong gusto ko may senador na sumasayaw sa balat ng mani. Kasabihan ‘yan sa amin sa Cavite, ang pinasasayaw sa balat ng mani,” he said.
“Ang biro na talagang akala mong totoong totoo, sayaw ng sayaw naniniwala pero actually biro. Pero, having said all that. Let’s leave it at that.”
Lacson was pressed to confirm if he indeed had been vaccinated against COVID-19 but wouldn’t confirm.
“’Yan ang sinabi ko. Pag minsan nagbibiruan, hindi ko sinasabing biro, di ko sinasabing totoo.”
Sotto, in a radio interview, said Lacson and Romualdez had been inoculated with a vaccine that’s similar to Pfizer, which only recently concluded its late-stage trials.
“Si Sen. Lacson, ang tapang. Immunized na ‘yun, nagpa-injection na ‘yun. Nauna na siya. Sila ni Martin Romualdez…parang pareho sa Pfizer,” Sotto said.
He also said others have already taken the vaccine, but did not identify them.
Sotto said Lacson had even encouraged him to get immunized. “Pero sabi ko teka muna, titingnan muna kita ‘pag nitong Pasko, nakikilala mo pa ako. Baka mamaya pagdating ng isang araw sabihin mo sa akin, who are you? (I told him not yet, I’ll observe you first if this Christmas you still know who I am. Because who know if one day you just tell me ‘who are you?’)” Sotto said.