San Juan City has allocated P50 million for the procurement of vaccines against COVID-19.
The City Council recently passed Ordinance No. 75, Series of 2020 appropriating the funds for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines “and other related activities.”
“One of the biggest game changers in our fight against COVID-19 is the vaccine. Our City Council has passed an ordinance allocating P50 million for it,” Mayor Francis Zamora said.
Ordinance opposed
However, the measure was not unanimously approved by the City Council as two councilors, Jannah Ejercito and Franchesco Paul Velasco, opposed the passing of the ordinance.
“Hindi sila bumoto pabor dito. Nakalagay sa actual signed ordinance na they voted against it (They did not vote in favor of it. It is stated in the actual signed ordinance that they voted against it),” said the mayor.
“That means they voted against allocating P50 million for COVID-19 vaccines for San Juaneños—these vaccines will protect our people from COVID-19 and they voted against the P50 million funding for this.”
Councilors explain vote
In a phone interview, Ejercito said that she is in favor of purchasing the vaccine. However, she explained that they cannot approve an ordinance allocating funds for procurement of a vaccine that is not yet ready.
“As for the vaccine, we are all for it. The problem is, how can you appropriate funds for something that is not yet ready?,” Ejercito told the Manila Bulletin on Thursday.
“Pag ready na po ang vaccine kahit 300 million pa yan ay siempre pipirma kami ni Councilor Chesco kasi para sa tao ‘yun (When the vaccine is ready, even if it is worth P300 million, of course Councilor Chesco and I will sign the measure because it is for the people)."
‘Unspecified’ COVID-related activities questioned
Ejercito also questioned the “other related activities” clause on the measure, noting that such must be specified in order to determine where the allocated funds will go.
“All funds must be clearly specified what it is for. Transparency is very important so that everyone would know how the funds were used. We cannot allocate funds for something that what we do not specifically know where the money goes),” she said in a separate Facebook post.
“You cannot also procure a vaccine before it is approved. So when the vaccine is approved, and a price is identified, then the City Council will still pass an ordinance realigning a portion of the 2021 budget to fund the procurement. So this ordinance is just ‘pa-pogi,’” she added.
For his part, Velasco echoed the concerns raised by Ejercito, saying that they cannot approve funds for a vaccine that is still in the testing process and has yet to be approved.
“Lilinawin ko po na base po sa ating batas hindi po tayo pwede mag-approve ng isang budget para sa isang bagay na hindi pa nag-eexist (I will clarify that based on our laws, we cannot approve a budget for something that does not yet exist),” Velasco said in Facebook post.
“Dahil sa panahon na prinopose at in-approve ang budget for COVID-19 vaccine ay kasalukuyan pa lamang pong ginagawa ito at tinitest ng ibat ibang kumpanya at scientists sa buong mundo (The budget for the COVID-19 vaccine was developed and approved while it is still being done and tested by various companies and scientists around the world),” he added.
The ordinance has been approved by the City Council on October 5. During that time, the vaccines developed by various pharmaceutical companies worldwide were still under the final stages of clinical trials.