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'Palakasan o nagkabayaran?' DILG exec suspicious of 'Gwaping' actor's vaccination
'Palakasan o nagkabayaran?' DILG exec suspicious of 'Gwaping' actor's vaccination
By Chito Chavez
A ranking official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has raised his eyebrow over the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination of a celebrity in Parañaque City ahead of those on the priority list.
DILG Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco Densing III alleged during the Laging Handa press briefing Thursday, March 25, that a "payoff" or "patronage system" might have led to the inoculation of actor Mark Anthony Fernandez.
Fernandez, who was part of the 90s heart-throb trio "The Gwapings," is not qualified for the government's A1 priority list for vaccination since he is not a medical frontliner.
Densing also slammed Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez for allowing Fernandez to be inoculated ahead of those in the A2 priority sector -- the senior citizens.
He said Olivarez was just "making up stories" in insisting that Fernandez was included in the substitution list as a person with co-morbidity or A3 priority.
"Hindi po sila nag- provide ng listahan kung sino at ilan ang nagsa-substitute. So nagiging kaduda-duda tuloy dyan. Nandyan ang palakasan o nagkabayaran o hindi natin malaman kasi kaduda-duda ang kanyang substitution list (They didn't provide a list as who and how many the substitutes were. So that becomes suspicious. Because his list is suspicious, there's the possibility of a patronage system or payoff or something we don't know)," Densing said.
In fact, Densing revealed that Fernandez himself admitted that he was healthy and not taking maintenance medicines except vitamin supplements, contrary to what Olivarez said.
The DILG official said that Fernandez has no legal liability for the violation but insisted that his conscience should bother him for depriving the health workers with one less COVID-19 vaccine.
Show-cause order vs. 8 mayors, councilor
Meanwhile, the DILG confirmed that seven more mayors and one councilor will be issued show-cause orders for receiving the vaccine ahead of the prioritized sectors.
In an interview over CNN Philippines, Densing said the local government officials have to explain and justify their vaccination despite repeated appeals for government officials not to jump the queue of the prioritized groups.
“If the approval of our OIC (officer-in-charge Bernardo Florece Jr.) comes out today, we have another eight to release—seven mayors and one councilor,” Densing said.