MANILA (SE): Divine Word Father Flavie Villanueva accused Rodrigo Duterte of lying to the people after the Philippine president claimed he did not know if members of the army had received the Sinopharm Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination, UCAN reported.
Duterte had said in December that some members of the army, including the Presidential Security Guard, had been vaccinated against Covid-19 to ensure his safety.
“Almost all soldiers have received the vaccine. I have to be frank and I have to tell the truth. I will not foist a lie,” Duterte told reporters on 26 December 2020.
“Yes smuggled, because they were not authorised. They need to explain because they violated FDA rules.”
Delfin Lorenzana
The Inquirer reported that the Philippine president told Food and Drug Administration (FDA) director-general, Eric Domingo during a meeting at Malacañang, the presidential palace, “Many have already been injected with Sinopharm.”
Philippine defence minister, Delfin Lorenzana, was quoted in PhilStar on 30 December 2020 as confirming that the president’s security detail had received unapproved, Covid-19 vaccines that had been smuggled into the country.
“Yes smuggled, because they were not authorised,” Lorenzana was reported as saying, adding that, “They need to explain because they violated FDA rules.”
However the minister claimed, “It is justified … it will protect them so they will not be infected and at the same time they can protect the president.”
In mid-December reports emerged of illegal Covid-19 vaccination activity in the Binondo district of Manila, with the mayor, Isko Moreno, saying in a letter to the city’s health office: “If true, this is definitely unauthorised” as there was no existing government-approved vaccine programme, the Inquirer reported.
However, UCAN reported that on January 4, when asked whether the military was being prioritised above the most vulnerable the president denied knowing whether or not the soldiers had received the vaccine.
“I don’t know really if they were injected with the vaccine. What brand? I do not know. Do not presume,” Duterte told reporters.
Father Villanueva, however, noted in a social media post: “The word of a person is his sacred bond. It reflects both his character and person. This (word) becomes a more serious matter when someone yields and holds power. Unfortunately, for this person (Duterte), his word is as foul as his mouth.”
Father Villanueva, who was one of five priests who received death threats in 2019 for criticising Duterte’s war on illegal drugs, also posted hashtags calling for the president’s resignation.
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Philstar reported on January 5, that Duterte had ordered his security detail to say nothing about the use of possibly smuggled vaccines as he warned Congress of a potential “crisis” should his guards be compelled to explain their actions.
“We heard the words of a man that tend to be false,” Father Villanueva said on January 5, adding that care should be taken in making promises and statements in order not to create confusion and conflict among fellow human beings, UCAN reported.
“The words of Duterte bring(s) threats to his critics, despair to the poor and falsehood to the nation,” he said.
Father Villanueva, who also runs the Saint Arnold Janssen Kalinga Centre, a facility that cares for Manila’s homeless, said the nation has been plagued by Duterte for almost five years.
“It’s been four-and-a half-years and the words of this man have brought us nothing and even made matters worse,” he lamented.
