Photo Release

A booster shot to government’s vaccine plan: Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto joins Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri and Sen. Sonny Angara (not in photo) in sponsoring Senate Bill No. (SBN) 2057 which seeks to expedite the procurement and administration of vaccines for the protection against COVID-19 coronavirus. According to Recto, SBN 2057 is a “booster shot” to the government’s vaccine plan which does not only seek to exempt vaccines from taxes but also extends the same exemption to the private sector procuring the vaccines. The proposed measure, Recto said, will also relax procurement rules in a manner that would shorten the process without leaving the government shortchanged. “Mr. President, the whole-of-nation approach against COVID-19 rejects the monopoly of ideas or of work. Certainly, it should not centralize as well under one national authority the monopoly of buying vaccines. We should stop further punishing people running out of jobs, food and hope with the shortcoming and bungling of those who are supposed to alleviate their pain and not aggravate it,” Recto said during the hybrid plenary session Tuesday, February 16, 2021. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)