Handout/Presidential Photo/Simeon Celi
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has quashed attempts to investigate how members of his bodyguard received shots of a Chinese-developed coronavirus vaccine in September and October, when no vaccine had been approved or officially procured in the country to date.
An angry Duterte this week ordered Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III, head of the Presidential Security Group (PSG), and members of the elite bodyguard to “stay put in the barracks” and ignore a summons to appear before a planned Senate inquiry into the matter.
“To Congress, do not tinker with the PSG. Don’t force my hand. I am not keen to have Durante testify,” Duterte said in a nationally televised cabinet meeting that went late into the evening on Monday.