Senator Pia Cayetano has called on the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to provide Congress updates on the status of the government’s loans and answer queries regarding the terms of purchase of COVID-19 vaccines which until now seems to be problematic.

Cayetano, who chairs the Senate ways and means committee, said it is imperative that the IATF gives lawmakers updates regarding terms of purchase of vaccines and if there are still loans that would be available to the Philippine government.

“Ten (10) months ago, the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Finance (DOF) would have wanted to focus on the funding of the vaccines through loans. That was really the position they took,” Cayetano said during her interpellation during the Senate’s discussion on the government’s COVID-19 response.

“I also recall that when we were receiving news that our neighboring countries, and of course, more wealthy countries who can buy their vaccine allocations by the millions, tayo wala pa (we still don’t have one),” she pointed out.

“We also encountered procurement issues...right? That our procurement laws did not allow us to make advance payments, which would have been around this time last year was the requirement of the companies that were selling the vaccines. So I think that’s one reason that nagkanda-delay-delay tayo (we encountered delays) and we didn’t get as much as we had wanted,” the lawmaker added.

She said this situation validates the need to ask the IATF for real updates regarding the government’s processes on the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines considering the increasing number of cases of individuals getting infected possibly with the Delta variant.

“So, I think it’s very timely that we get updates from the IATF kung ano na yung terms ngayon na purchase (what are the terms of purchase), kung meron pa bang nae-extend sa atin na loans (if there are still loans extended to us). Ano ba itong mga (what are these) loans? Are they easy for us to avail of?” the senator stressed.

“Because the reason why DOF was saying at first that we want to fund this (vaccines) by loans (is) because very reasonable naman ang terms. So ang limited cash natin, we can use it for other programs that we need. And then we can loan with reasonable terms these vaccine procurement,” she reiterated.

“Pero yun nga, mukhang maraming (But it seems there are so many) obstacles. So, I am just pointing that out, that these are issues I think that require an update from IATF,” Cayetano reiterated.

Senate finance committee chair Senator Sonny Angara agreed with Cayetano saying it is imperative for lawmakers to review existing procurement processes in line with the government’s goal to achieve herd immunity through increased vaccination.

“I agree with Sen. Pia that maybe (it is high-time) we revisit some of our protocols,” Angara said.

Angara, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Sen. Richard Gordon also agreed on the need to provide the government more funds to advance the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.