Thread by @cnnphilippines

THREAD: Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Henry Lim Bon Liong and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion join Kapihan sa Manila Bay cnn.ph

Tweets by our correspondent @meltlopez

@meltlopez FFCCCII president says his group prefers Sinovac for their planned procurement.

He earlier said the group is targeting to buy 500,000 vials of the China-made vaccines

@meltlopez Concepcion again clarifies that the government did not mandate the donation of AstraZeneca vaccines by the private sector

@meltlopez Concepcion: The second important part of the deal is indemnification to protect them against lawsuits, the private sector can't do that

@meltlopez Concepcion: I think the structure of the tripartite agreement is good and it should continue.

Business groups have earlier lobbied for direct negotiations and importations to fast-track vaccine purchases

@meltlopez Concepcion says companies who donated AstraZeneca doses to the government wrote a letter to tell Vaccine czar Galvez to use the supply on Metro Manila residents, with a focus on MSMEs

@meltlopez Bon Liong admits he has taken Ivermectin as a preventive drug vs COVID-19, together with other prominent leaders from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Authorities have warned vs the drug licensed for animal use. bit.ly/3sACwUf

@meltlopez What will change with Duterte's "import at will" order for the private sector's vaccine purchases?

Concepcion: The tripartite is necessary because we don’t have the option to indemnify. Nothing really changes. The tripartite agreements can be done maybe in a day.

@meltlopez Bon Liong says they were told that their Sinovac tripartite agreement needs to pass through the Department of Finance.

But Concepcion says it should only involve the DOH, Galvez as they are using private money.

@meltlopez Concepcion on possible 1-week ECQ extension: If infections are still not under control, I don't mind because we might waste the past week's lockdown.

Bon Liong: Resources are dried up already, but we respect the government's judgement.

@meltlopez Concepcion says this year's outbreak is worse than last year given the speed of infections.

Bon Liong: That's why I took Ivermectin, I took the gamble because there's no other choice. Wala pang vaccines dito.

FDA has warned against taking this drug.