THE National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 said Tuesday the planned mega vaccination site at the Nayong Pilipino and other large venues would help the Philippines meet its target of 500,000 daily COVID-19 inoculations.
Retired Gen. Restituto Padilla, NTF spokesman, said the Task Force was “working to increase the number of vaccination sites with as many facilities as we can put up in anticipation of the mass rollout once the vaccine supplies start coming in in big numbers.”
Malacañang on Monday urged officials of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) board not to block the construction of a “mega vaccination site” in Parañaque City to be built for the government by tycoon Enrique Razon's International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Foundation.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made this appeal after Razon said he was at a "loss for words to describe" the NPF board for opposing the project.
Roque reminded the NPF that it was a government-owned and –controlled corporation (GOCC) and still under the supervision of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Our call to the Board of Nayong Pilipino, all GOCCs are under the supervision of the President and we hope all their decisions do not go against the very important mission of protecting the lives of our citizens.”
He pointed out that the construction of a mega vaccination facility was part of Duterte’s “police power” as President.
Meanwhile, Roque said he had no information if Duterte had accepted the resignation of Lucille Karen Malilong-Isberto as executive director of the NPF.
NTF Chief Implementor and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., in a separate statement, called on the NPF to sign the agreement to construct the mega vaccination facility on its property.
He stressed the urgency in establishing a mega vaccination center as it “will help accelerate” the implementation of the government’s vaccination campaign.
Last month, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) authorized the NTF to enter into an agreement with the NPF for the construction of the mega vaccination site.
The construction of the mega vaccination facility has yet to commence as the NPF board of trustees has yet to sign a memorandum of agreement with the NTF.
Last May 6, the NPF said it opposed the construction of a mega vaccination site, insisting that its property is a “thriving urban forest that hosts a variety of urban wildlife and is the last remaining grassland in the reclaimed area of Parañaque.”