While other government agencies work overtime to convert public infrastructure projects into COVID-19 vaccination or quarantine sites, the Nayong Pilipino Foundation’s (NPF) board insists on developing a “healing garden” on its sprawling property at the Entertainment City in Paranaque.
The NPF board bucked at the proposal of bilyonaryo Enrique Razon’s group to build a mega COVID-19 vaccination site on its property for free despite an order from Malacanang to prioritize pandemic-related initiatives.
In a statement posted on its website May 6, the NPF warned that the mega vaccination site proposed by the Razon-led ICTSI Foundation “may pose a health risk” since people getting vaccinated will be on the same property as those quarantined for COVID-19. A quarantine facility was built on NPF’s lot at the start of the pandemic. It is being run by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The NPF board, which is led by executive director Lucille Karen E. Malilong-Isberto and director Cesar DG Aljama, said their plan to develop a “park” is in line with the government’s pandemic response.
“NPF considers the site a place for healing, which will be free and open to the public. The planned healing garden and tree grove for the quarantine facility are interlocked with plans for a nursery and park ranger station that will also address the need to care for the thriving ecosystem,” it said.
The board warned that construction of the mega vaccination site “will kill” the existing ecosystem on the property.
“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,” it said.
The NPF board claimed there were also legal issues concerning the offer of the Razon group to build and manage the mega vaccination site.
“The NPF management is seeking urgent clarification from the National Task Force Against COVID-19 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 No. 1445,” it said.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on May 4 issued a memorandum stating that the construction of the vaccination site should take precedence than any plan of the NPF in the pipeline.
“Should the NPF have any existing plans on the same property, it shall defer the implementation thereof to give way to the more urgent purpose of meeting the public health emergency,” the memorandum read.
Razon has offered to construct the 12,000-capacity mega vaccination site at no cost to the government.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
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