Ex-mayor’s spox says no overestimation of vaccines

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Dr. Cris Sorongon, spokesman of former Bacolod City mayor Evelio Leonardia, on Wednesday dismissed claims that there was overestimation of the volume of AstraZeneca vaccines procured by the previous administration.

Sorongon issued the statement after incumbent Mayor Albee Benitez said he will not pay for the reported balance of P98 million for the vaccines “ordered” by the Leonardia administration.

The Leonardia administration ordered around 650,000 doses of COVID vaccines from the British pharmaceutical firm in 2021 costing more than P150 million.

The city government already made partial payment of P65 million for the more than 260,000 doses utilized in the vaccination program against COVID-19.

Benitez said he was also informed by the City Health Office that the 260,000 doses delivered by AstraZeneca have been fully utilized already.

But AstraZeneca informed him that the city government still has 434,000 doses of the 650,000 vials which are in the Department of Health’s storage but are due to expire in two weeks.

“We based the computation to the target population of Bacolod City, assuming that there will not be enough vaccines or there will be delayed deliveries from the national government,” Sorongon said.

Sorongon also said that there were no vaccines that expired in the Bacolod City cold storage.

Sorongon also pointed out that “the tripartite agreement entered into by and between the city government, the Department of Health and AstraZeneca, upon the prodding of the previous national government when vaccine supply was a scarcity, is a contractual obligation that must be honored.”

But he said it is the call of the new city administration under Benitez if it will not honor the stipulations contained in the contract as it will be the one that will deal with AstraZeneca officials now.

“To set the record straight, no vaccine expired at the Bacolod storage facility. The expired vaccines he was referring to are with DOH central facility of which we have no control of and form part of the multi-lateral agreement between the national government, represented by the DOH, AZ and Bacolod City,” according to Sorongon, who had also served as deputy director of the then Emergency Operations Center Task Force against COVID-19.

At least 27 other cities and provinces in the country entered into similar tripartite deals with AstraZeneca at a time when there was very limited supply of vaccines worldwide. With encouragement and initiative from the national government to assure our respective constituents of ample supply of vaccine, LGUs that have the financial capability, turned to AZ, he added.

“All supplies delivered earlier by the DOH (all brands included) have been administered by the EOC and medical frontliners of the COVID-19 Vaccination Council, resulting to a 136 percent  vaccination rate for Bacolod, the highest in the whole of Region 6 (Western Visayas) as certified by the DOH and reflected in the daily SITREP (situation report).”

“Again, let me point out that the procurement of vaccines thru the tripartite agreement was facilitated by the national government. It was done at a time when there was no assurance of supply coming from the national government thus, as part of the emergency powers granted to chief executives and the necessity and urgency to make Bacolodnons safe from COVID, the LGU entered into this multi-partite agreement to buy vaccines. Any forward thinking manager and seasoned crisis managers would do the same. We were among the first outside of Metro Manila to do this. Had we not resorted to this, I doubt it if Bacolod had achieved its very high vaccination rate as it has today,” he further explained.

Sorongon also dismissed claims that there was over estimation of the volume of vaccines to be procured.

“We based the computation to the target population of Bacolod City, assuming that there will not be enough vaccines or there will be delayed deliveries from the national government,” he said.

“If Mayor Albee decides not to pay the balance with supplier, that’s his call. At the end of the day, he will be the one to deal with the pharmaceutical firm now as the new local chief executive,” he added.

Sorongon also said he cannot disclose other details of the tripartite deal because the city is duty-bound to adhere to the stipulations contained in the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) it signed with Aztra Zeneca.

“All other details beyond these were disclosures made by the current administration, not by the previous administration,” he pointed out.