CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro: The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) reiterated its request to the National Task Force on Vaccination (NTF) that local government units (LGUs) be allowed to enter into multipartite agreements (MPAs) with vaccine manufacturers to expedite their vaccine rollout.

Mayor Arnan Panaligan, in an interview with The Manila Times on Friday, said during the hearing called by the House of Representatives Committee on Economic Affairs to discuss the vaccine procurement of the NTF, he told the committee chaired by Rep. Sharon Garin, that their request to vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez has not been acted upon. He said 26 cities had submitted MPAs to Galvez.

The house committee invited Panaligan as a resource person during the hearing on September 12 to look into why the NTF has not signed the MPAs that allow LGUs to procure vaccines directly from manufacturers.

Panaligan is the secretary general of the LCP.

Panaligan stated during the hearing, a video of which was posted on his social media page, that LGUs should be allowed to procure vaccines from manufacturers through MPAs to ensure a sufficient number of vaccines to be allocated to their constituents.

During the interview on Friday, Panaligan added he has a separate proposal to the NTF while the previous request for the MPAs is pending. He asked LGUs be allowed to enter into new MPAs for vaccine booster shots especially among healthcare workers.