PRESIDENT Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte was just being true to form when he backed his Malacañang bodyguards in the Covid-19 inoculation controversy.
If I knew the President, there was no way he would have acted differently.
Loyalty begets loyalty, and Digong was just returning the loyalty shown to him by the men of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).
The PSG members took it upon themselves to get inoculated against Covid-19 so they could protect the commander in chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
The presidential guards wanted their ward safe from Covid-19 by having themselves immunized from the deadly virus.
Can you fault them for that even if in doing so they violated protocol because the Covid-19 vaccines have not yet been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration?
I learned that several PSG members had died from Covid-19 before they were vaccinated en masse. One of the fatalities was assigned at the office of Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
The PSG’s mandate is to protect the President and members of his immediate family at all cost.
At no time since President Emilio Aguinaldo have the presidential guards become disloyal to their wards.
Ferdinand Marcos’ presidential guards stood steadfastly by him while a huge mob was on its way to the Palace during the EDSA Revolution; they only left the Palace grounds after the Marcoses had flown out of the country.
Cory Aquino’s presidential guards never abandoned their posts while rebel soldiers were outside the gates of Malacañang.
Joseph “Erap” Estrada’s guards saw him and his family depart the Palace grounds before relinquishing their posts to the soldiers of his successor.
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Digong is one leader I know who looks after the welfare of his men; he would float and sink with them.
When he was Davao City mayor, Digong always backstopped policemen who killed criminals to make the city safe.
Are you surprised he’s come to the rescue of his bodyguards?
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Some legislators are making a mountain out of a molehill in calling for a congressional probe into the source of the Sinopharm vaccines from China.
These lawmakers might be surprised to learn who among their colleagues have been vaccinated.
They might also be surprised which other government officials and other personalities also benefited from the unauthorized vaccination.
Why belabor the point when those who were injected with the vaccines were brave enough to become guinea pigs?
That the vaccines were smuggled is now moot and academic in the light of the knowledge of their efficacy and safety.
Isn’t it comforting to know that the vaccine from our neighbor is as effective as, or perhaps even more so, than the ones produced in the US and Europe?
A notable philanthropist gave away the vaccines for free to his friends. From what I learned he never earned a single centavo from them.
Anyway, the vaccines will soon be available in commercial quantity in the country and the congressional probe, if there’s going to be any, will be in vain.
Don’t you think we should be thanking those who took the risk by having themselves injected with the vaccines first, instead of condemning them?