President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is welcomed by Presidential Security Group (PSG) Commander Brigadier General Jose Niembra during the 122nd PSG anniversary at the PSG Compound on June 26, 2019. ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
Malacañang on Monday said members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) received anti-Covid-19 shots, albeit unregistered, to show that they were willing to die for President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a Palace briefing, Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque said the PSG merely aimed “to protect the President of the Republic of the Philippines and his immediate family.”
“Nagkaroon po ng desisyon ang PSG na sa panahon ng pandemya eh isa sa malaking banta sa kalusugan ng presidente ay kung mahahawa siya noong mga taong nakapaligid sa kaniya – at ito nga ang PSG. So nagdesisyon sila maski wala pa pong authorization na magpabakuna,” he said.
“In other words po, dahil handa naman silang mamatay para sa Presidente eh pumayag na rin sila na magpasaksak dahil sa kanilang pagnanais na huwag sanang mahawaan ang ating presidente,” he continued.
Roque claimed the vaccination also sought to tell the Filipino people a message: “Magpapakamatay po sila [PSG] para sa presidente para bigyan siya ng proteksiyon.”
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Eric Domingo had said the inoculation of Duterte’s security group with unregistered Covid-19 vaccines was illegal.
But in a statement, Chief Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III said it was a matter of national security to keep the virus from reaching the president.
“National security imposes the protection of the president being the commander in-chief from all forms of threat, especially Covid-19, in order to preserve the stability of our nation,” he said.
Sinopharm was the first vaccine to receive an emergency use approval (EUA) worldwide. However, the Philippines has yet to issue an EUA for the Chinese vaccine. John Ezekiel J. Hirro