Duterte Warns Congress Not To Meddle With PSG Vaccination Issue
PSG VACCINATION ISSUE – Amid criticisms, President Rodrigo Duterte himself told the congress not to meddle with the PSG’s affairs.
Recently, the PSG was dead-center in a controversial unauthorized vaccination against COVID-19. Currently, the Food and Drug Authority has yet to approve any coronavirus vaccine. However, the PSG managed to procure and inoculate themselves with a vaccine from Sinopharm.
Since the issue came to light, the PSG have been bombarded by inquiries regarding where they got the vaccine. But, the PSG denied to disclose any information to the public.
Following the constant probing from congress, the President himself stepped in and asserted his role as the head of the country. During his weekly pandemic brief, he warned congress:
I would like to call on Congress — I’m not pleading —what I only want is, in plain words: Do not tinker with the PSG. I am telling you as President: It’s a matter of self-preservation.
Furthermore, he asserted that he’d no longer elaborate on what he meant. Afterward, he gave a final warning to congress not to “force” his “hand to meddle” into the issue.
Duterte explained that he does not want the PSG and its chief, Durante, to testify. According to an article from Inquirer, Duterte said:
They did this, as I understand, for the sake of their lives. So if they will be called to testify in Congress, as a lawyer, I will just tell them — because they are now being accused with the accompanying statement of prosecution — if that’s the case, I will ask the PSG to just shut up. Do not answer. Invoke the right against self-incrimination.
Finally, Duterte warned senators against calling out the PSG in contempt for ignoring the queries into the vaccine issue. “I do not think that it would be good for you and for me. It would not be healthy for everybody”, the President said.
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