THE Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) can actually dictate the terms of the use of their property for the proposed mega-vaccination facility that will be constructed, free of charge, by the ICTSI Foundation.
In a memorandum to the now resigned NPF Executive Director Lucille Karen Malilong-Isberto dated April 6, 2021, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said, “The NPF may want to indicate a period covering the dates of its temporary use in the Memorandum of Agreement [MOA] to specify the time-bound usage of the property, and also indicate that it will be exclusively used as a vaccination center within the purview of the government’s national vaccination program.”
The NPF is supposed to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health (DOH) to pave the way for the establishment of the temporary mega-vaxx facility at a portion of the foundation’s 9.5-hectare property that had been reserved earlier for its Project Sambayanihan, a national cultural park to rise in the Pagcor Entertainment City.
Romulo Puyat also suggested the NPF may be able to ask ICTSI Foundation to help in creating the forest park and creative hub the foundation had envisioned under Project Sambayanihan. “In addition, there may be leeway for Nayong Pilipino to negotiate with the proponent to include and complement some aspects of the Board’s current plans for the eventual use of the property when they construct the temporary vaccination center.”
The DOT made this assurance to the NPF Board after some members expressed initial concerns that “giving up possession of the NPF property will result in the failure of NPF to fulfill its mandate of establishing a cultural park and creative hub.”
‘Talahib, not a forest’
NETIZENS took up the cause of one environmental group railing against the alleged cutting of some 500 ipil-ipil trees on the NPF property for the mega-vaxx facility. Photos shared with the BusinessMirror, however, showed the lot where the mega-vaxx center would rise was mainly empty, with an overgrowth of wild grass and weeds.
Nayong Pilipino sits on a 15-hectare piece of reclaimed land within the Pagcor Entertainment City in Parañaque.
“We never undertook any legitimate planting of trees there,” said one former NPF board member, who requested anonymity. “So what you will see are empty lots na tinubuan lang ng talahib. Anything you see there is a result of neglect. Tinubuan ng talahib, a bird flew over and dropped a seed, tumubo. But definitely it’s not a forest,” he said.
Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN Philippines on Tuesday evening, ICTSI Chairman Enrique K. Razon Jr. said they would need about “8 hectares” for the proposed mega-vaxx facility: “You need to process people, we need reception, we need inoculation, and we need the observation area where you have to spend 15 minutes to see if there are any side effects.” He added, the facility will be patterned after large vaccination centers in the United States.
“We need to vaccinate the people to be able to open the economy…. At the rate the vaccinations are going, it will take years to obtain herd immunity. We cannot wait years. We have to do this now,” said the business mogul.
Referring to environmental concerns raised by netizens, Razon stressed “but this is a health crisis. People are dying every day.”
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