MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte again denied on Monday that there was corruption in the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.
The money used to buy the vaccines, he said, were all borrowed from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the World Bank.
“So there’s no corruption here — because not one of us here holds any of the billions [borrowed],” Duterte said, speaking partly in Filipino. “So that’s the situation. That’s why it’s painful for us that there are these sweeping allegations about corruption.”
Not even the officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force against Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF) would be handling any money — not even the payments …
Keep on reading: Duterte admits being hurt by claims of corruption in vaccine procurement