Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said on Wednesday, May 26, that he is going to use his subpoena power on those involved in the sale of vaccine and vaccination slots in order to expedite the ongoing investigation of the police.
This, as investigators of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) have identified at least one person who was confirmed to have offered vaccine and vaccine slot to his high school friend.
In order to further ferret out the truth on this controversy, I am invoking the power given to me by the law as the Chief PNP to issue subpoena against the persons involved in the alleged sale of COVID vaccines and vaccine slots,” said Eleazar.
Under the Republic Act 10973, the Chief PNP and the Director and the Deputy Director for Administration of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) are given the authority to issue subpoenas in relation to the police’ conduct of investigations, particularly on high-profile crimes.
The person who made the offer has reportedly gone into hiding and has already deactivated all his social media accounts.
"At least isang tao na ang kilala na ng PNP na sangkot dito kaya ang tamang gawin niya ay pumunta sa aking opisina upang magbigay linaw sa isyung ito. Huwag ka nang makipaglaro ng taguan sa ating mga kapulisan (We have already identified at least one person and the best that he should do is to go to my office and clear this issue. He should not play hide and seek with policemen)," said Eleazar.
Eleazar expressed support for Malacañang’s call for Local Government Units (LGUs) to pass penal ordinances that would prohibit the sale of vaccination slots allotted for their constituents.
He said that such ordinances would ban the unscrupulous practice and penalize violators, serving as a deterrent.
“An ordinance that would explicitly state that COVID-19 vaccination slots are non-transferrable would be a very helpful measure to deter persons from selling or at least being tempted to sell these slots. The ordinance can also clearly define penalties for persons who still attempt to do so as well as LGU employees who might abet them,”said Eleazar.
He said that we have national laws that penalize the sale of unregistered medicine, including COVID-19 vaccines, as well as for swindling. The PNP Chief cited the FDA Act of 2009, the Revised Penal Code and the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.