MANILA - A group of Filipino-Chinese businessmen was “being blocked” from procuring COVID-19 vaccines, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on Friday.

In a tweet, Locsin said the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) has been trying to get a hold of coronavirus vaccines but cannot do so.

The Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce are also trying to procure vaccines but are being blocked.

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) March 18, 2021

The official, however, has not specified who is blocking the group of businessmen as of this story’s posting.

The FFCCCII last month signed a deal with China's Sinovac Biotech for about 500,000 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine worth P325 million.

• READ: Fil-Chinese business group inks deal with Sinovac for COVID-19 vaccine doses worth P325-M
• READ: Gov't, private sector sign deal to acquire 20 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

The federation’s chairman emeritus, Francis Chua, last week said the group has yet to obtain the tripartite agreement from the government, a requirement in the private sector when ordering vaccines.

In another tweet, Locsin criticized a “village idiot” who is supposedly preparing an administrative order which would prevent companies “from procuring and donating vaccines to their employees and the government.”

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He declined to identify who he was referring to when asked by Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Twitter, only saying “later.”

“It is one thing to discourage smoking or lactose intolerance, and quite another to destroy the livelihood and the lives of people who depend on the tobacco, milk, sugar and soda companies which pay more taxes than the directors of PhilHealth have stolen,” he said.

“And yet the village idiot is preparing an Administrative Order prohibiting these companies from procuring and donating vaccines to their employees and the government,” said the foreign affairs chief.

It is one thing to discourage smoking or lactose intolerance, and quite another to destroy the livelihood and the lives of people who depend on the tobacco, milk, sugar and soda companies which pay more taxes than the directors of PhilHealth have stolen. And yet the village idiot

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) March 18, 2021

One of the country's presidential advisers earlier said that his group planned on buying other COVID-19 vaccine brands, such as India-based Bharat Biotech’s vaccine, to augment the country’s limited vaccine supply and to vaccinate the private sector’s employees from the deadly virus.

• READ: Businessmen eye buying Covaxin COVID-19 jabs for private sector, help augment PH vaccine supply

The Philippines has so far received Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines. It has been negotiating with other brands to secure a steady supply.

Faced with surging coronavirus infections, the country aims to vaccinate up to 70 million of its 108 million people this year to achieve herd immunity and reopen the economy.

• READ: DOLE, employers' group reject 'no vaccination, no work' policy