Jullie Yap Daza 

For China’s donation of 600,000 doses of their Sinovac vaccine, President Duterte thanked the Chinese government and people. At P680 a dose, the P408,000,000 cargo filled eight freezer vans, the first three of which moved ever so gingerly from Villamor Air Base to Marikina, a two-hour trip despite the Sunday night traffic and police escorts. Not to be shaken nor stirred, the tiny vials packed in crates in sub-zero temperatures arrived to a no-frills welcome by the President and Chinese Ambassador Huang Xi Lian.

Also on hand were our Malacañang reporters, whose questions ranged from politics (Sara and the presidency) to futuristic (when will life return to normal?) and, naturally, to Sinovac efficacy. The vaccine has been getting a bad press, especially after the Food and Drug Administration cautioned against using it on health workers.

The basis for the warning was presumably Brazil’s experience of a 50 percent efficacy after the vaccine was administered to health workers. In other countries where larger segments of the population were jabbed with the same Sinovac, the results showed efficacy rates of up to 94 percent. In addition, Sinovac joins American and UK-made vaccines with 100 percent efficacy on patients with severe COVID-19.

Between the lines was the unspoken question of what China expects in return for the donation, marked CHINA AID. “Walang hinihingi ang China,” PRRD said. China does not ask for anything. “China has good spirit, the people are kind, the government, they have great respect and love for mankind.”

The vaccine is here, a beacon of hope, but it is obvious that its provenance has been turned into a p.r. problem.

Not only were the life-saving drugs given without cost, they were flown in free of charge by a Chinese military plane, contrary to the usual donor-donee protocol. “Xie xie,” the President said to Ambassador Huang. “A debt of gratitude should be paid by a personal visit.” Good p.r.

The Manila-based Chinese correspondent for a Chinese network asked which city he would like to visit on his next trip. Xiamen, Mr. Duterte replied without blinking, because they have named a school there after his mother, Soledad. In 1950, when his family migrated to Davao, her first job there was to teach in a Chinese school.

「謝謝」

Jullie Yap Daza

杜特爾特總統感謝中國政府和人民捐贈60萬劑中國科興疫苗。每劑價值P680，總共價值披索4億8百萬的貨物裝滿了八輛冷凍車，前三輛從維拉莫空軍基地小心翼翼地送到到馬里基納，儘管是星期日晚上，而且有交通警察護送，但這趟行程還是需要兩個小時。在零度以下的溫度下，這些裝在板條箱里的小瓶受到了總統和中國駐菲大使黃溪連的樸賓歡迎。

我們派駐總統府的記者也在現場，記者們的問題從政治(莎拉與總統)到未來主義(生活什麼時候會恢復正常?)當然還有中國科興疫苗的功效。這種疫苗一直受到媒體的負面報道，尤其是在菲律賓食品藥物管理局(FDA)警告不要把其用於衛生工作者之後。

這樣的警告的依據可能是巴西的試驗，即在給衛生工作者接種疫苗後，疫苗的功效達到50%。然而，在其他國家，更多部分人口注射相同的科興，結果顯示其有效性高達94%。此外,中國科興連同美英產生的疫苗對新冠狀病毒的嚴重性患者都是有100%的功效。

字裡行間隱藏著一個不言而喻的問題，即中國希望從捐贈中得到什麼回報，這就是給予中國援助的標簽。總統杜特爾特說:「向中國致敬！」中國沒有任何的要求任。「中國有良好的精神，人民善良，中國政府對人類有極大的尊重和愛。」

疫苗就在這裡，是希望的燈塔，然而，很明顯的，它的來源卻已經變成了一個公關問題。

這些拯救生命的藥物不僅是免費提供的，而且是由中國軍用飛機免費空運過來的，這與通常的捐贈-受贈協議相反。「謝謝，謝謝，我應該親自前往拜訪，以表達謝意！」總統對黃溪連大使說。

一家中國網絡駐馬尼拉的中國記者問他下次旅行想去哪個城市。「廈門，」杜特地眼都不眨地回答，因為那裡有一所學校是以他母親索萊達(Soledad)的名字來命名的。1950年，他們舉家移居到達沃市，他的母親在那裡的第一份工作是在一所華僑學校教書。