The decision to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement was made after Washington canceled the US visa of Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, reportedly over human rights issues. The process of termination, however, was put on hold amid the pandemic. Now President Duterte is warning that the VFA termination would push through, unless the United States provides the Philippines with 10 million doses of COVID vaccines made in USA.

In fact as early as July this year, as countries scrambled to reserve vaccines being developed by the world’s reputable pharmaceutical giants, the US government had already helped the Philippines secure a commitment from US company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech with 10 million doses of their vaccine – the first-ever shot against COVID approved by US and European regulators.

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As officials themselves of the Duterte administration had disclosed, the 10 million doses would have arrived in the country by this January – as the vaccine is now being rapidly rolled out in other parts of the world. But several Philippine lawmakers have found out that the company’s request for a signed confidentiality agreement from the Philippine government sat for two months at Malacañang before it decided to send the document to the Department of Health, which took another month before the necessary signature was given.

By that time, the 10-million reservation had gone to Singapore – the first country in Asia to approve the Pfizer vaccine. Mass inoculation in the city-state, renowned for its efficiency and good governance, is set to start within days. In frustration, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. recently tweeted that “somebody dropped the ball” in the Pfizer vaccine procurement.

There is a long line for the vaccines made by Pfizer / BioNTech and US biotech firm Moderna. The US is the current epicenter of the pandemic, and even Americans must wait in a long line for their turn to receive their shots.

Washington under Donald Trump, with whom President Duterte has warm ties, has done its part in getting its ally Manila a substantial allocation of the top-of-the-line COVID vaccine. The incoming administration of Joe Biden may still be requested, through proper diplomatic channels, to do the same thing and help the Philippines jump ahead of the global line, even if Pfizer is a private company that did not get any federal funding for its vaccine development under Trump’s Operation Warp Speed.

Openly linking the vaccine procurement with the VFA termination is a mercenary way of looking at the country’s alliances. If the Philippines wants to end the VFA, it should do so based on sound premises. If its officials failed to secure the timely delivery of reliable COVID vaccines, it should not try to pin blame on those who in fact did their part in getting the shots.