Senate President Vicente Sotto III strongly denied Thursday claims that the chamber is giving up on the controversy about the unauthorized COVID-19 vaccination of President Duterte's security personnel.
Sotto took exception to reports that the Senate has soft-pedalled on the issue on the Presidential Security Group's early inoculation, maintaining that it was never part of their upcoming hearing on the government's COVID-19 immunization program.
"Tumiklop daw ang Senado doon sa pag-iimbestiga sa PSG...Kailan kami nagpatawag ng PSG at kailan kami tumiklop? (The Senate allegedly gave up on investigating the PSG. When did we call the PSG and when did we give up?)," he said in an online interview.
"Pakialam namin doon (What do we care)? Hindi 'yon ang issue namin (That was not our issue). Ang issue is the COVID-19 vaccination roadmap. Malinaw 'yon, eh (That is clear). (The) Safety, efficacy, sensitivity, the cost and supply chain requirements, access to clinical trials, local production or distribution -- 'yun ang ating topic namin, bakit sinasali kami doon sa problema ng PSG (Those are our topics, why are they dragging us into the problem of the PSG)?" he said.
The Senate Committee of the Whole will conduct on Monday its hearing into the Duterte administration's COVID-19 vaccination program.
Earlier, Duterte warned Congress of a "little crisis" should lawmakers summon members of the PSG into their congressional hearings to explain their inoculation ahead of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of any COVID-19 vaccine.
Sotto said the President was "misinformed" and "being misled" into believing this.