TWENTY-SIX days after the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved the establishment of a temporary mega-vaccination center at the Nayong Pilipino property, construction has yet to commence.
The problem, according to government sources who attend the IATF meetings, is that the Nayong Pilipino Foundation Board of Trustees has yet to sign a memorandum of agreement with the National Task Force Against Covid-19 (NTF) to implement the project.
The delay on the part of the NPF Board to sign the MOA has already prompted Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea to issue a memorandum to the board on May 4: “[The] NPF, through its Board of Trustees is hereby DIRECTED to undertake any and all acts necessary to allow the DOH [Department of Health] or the NTF to use the NPF property
in Parañaque City for Covid-19 intervention measures, particularly as a site for vaccination center and/or quarantine facility, including the issuance of a Resolution for such purpose and the execution of the corresponding agreement, in a manner that conforms with existing laws, rules, and regulations.” (Underscore theirs.)
The temporary mega-vaccination center, to be developed by the ICTSI Foundation at no cost to the government, is designed to inoculate about 10,000 persons a day. (See, “Drive-Through Covid Shots Available Soon at Nayong Pilipino—DOT Chief,” in the BusinessMirror, April 13, 2021.)
Legal, environmental issues
Despite the memo from Medialdea, the NPF Board, in a meeting on Wednesday, held off from signing the MOA with NTF. In a news statement on Thursday, NPF management, led by its Executive Director Lucille Karen Malilong-Isberto, said while the board has already approved the use of the designated lot as a vaccination center it was “seeking urgent clarification from the [NT] and the DOH as to the governance structure for such vaccination facility, as statements by Department of Tourism officials that ICTSI Foundation will operate and manage the facility led to questions about the propriety of allowing a private foundation to use government property contrary to Presidential Decree 1445. ICTSI Foundation is part of the Razon group of companies. Legal issues are being studied to ensure full compliance with all laws, rules, and regulations.” PD 1445 pertains to the auditing code of the Philippines. (Emphasis theirs)
NPF also clarified that the lot in question was not vacant, “but has a thriving urban forest that hosts a variety of urban wildlife and is the last remaining grassland in the reclaimed area of Parañaque. The site is a bird flyway network and is close to the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area or protected wetlands under the Ramsar Convention, to which the Philippines is a signatory.”
According to the NPF, the abrupt cutting of close to 500 trees and other site works on the NPF Property will kill the existing ecosystem. “Once lost, it could take decades to recover this ecosystem. A mega-vaccination facility that will destroy this ecosystem would be a disaster and a disservice to the residents of Metro Manila who need more green and open spaces,” the foundation warned.
Palafox: We respect environment
In a text message to the BusinessMirror, Architect Architect Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr., who was hired by ICTSI Foundation to design the mega-vaxx center, said he had expressed “no reservations [in developing the site]. In fact, we are integrating the urban forest protecting and enhancing the environment with our architectural designs and master plan, mega-vaccination center-vaccination courts, and drive throughs.”
He stressed, “We respect the environment. It’s our [Palafox Architecture Group and Palafox Associates] philanthropic architecture. We are working with the Department of Tourism, Nayong Pilipino, local government unit, ICTSI, Prime BMB, Solaire, Megaworld, [and] Entertainment City Association. We are donating our designs for humanity, for our country, and the rest of the world.”
He did share NPF’s concerns “to protect the trees. I’m an architect, also an environment planner. We consulted [DOT] and Nayong Pilipino—we were allocated a limited space away from the trees. We also designed drive-through lanes for vaccination using the roadway. Megaworld allowed us to use their land for parking, away from the trees. We also designated drive-through lanes using the roadway.”
Asked to see a design for the mega-vaxx center, Palafox said. “We are modifying again our designs with the new inputs from other stakeholders we just met.”
Onsite quarantine, vaccination facility
The NPF added, it was already hosting a quarantine facility operated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), even as it approved the proposal for a smaller vaccination facility. The foundation is coordinating with the DOH and the AFP “that the building of a smaller vaccination facility in the middle of a surge does not pose risks to patients and staff operating the quarantine facility.”
It warned, “A mega-vaccination center close onsite, next to the quarantine facility may pose a health risk on both healthy individuals securing their vaccines. A careful study of the design and ventilation systems for both are necessary to ensure there is no cross-contamination to take place.”
The establishment of the mega-vaccination center was approved by the IATF and published in IATF Resolution 109 dated April 10, and signed by task force chair Duque and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles as co-chairman. “The IATF hereby ratified the proposal, endorsed by the [DOT], for the construction of free and temporary public walk-in and drive-thru vaccination caters in the vacant portion of the lots located in Nayong Pilipino Foundation property in Parañaque City. The [NTF] Chairperson [Carlito Galvez Jr.] is hereby authorized to enter into any such agreements with the Nayong Pilipino Foundation, or to do and perform all and every act whatsoever requisite, necessary or proper to be done in and about the premises as fully to all intents and purpose as the IATF Chairperson and Co-Chairperson might or could if personally present and acting in person.”
In contrast, government sources pointed out “the vaccination center and Covid clinic at the Luneta is already being constructed,” which had been proposed by the city of Manila and approved by the National Parks Development Committee on April 13.