Duterte accepts resignation of Nayong Pilipino exec

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has accepted the resignation of Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) Executive Director Lucille Malilong-Isberto.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles said in a television interview on Thursday that the resignation “was submitted to the President and the President accepted it. It was as simple as that,” Nograles said in an interview with ANC.

Malilong-Isberto resigned after clashing with government officials over the construction of a mega vaccination center in the Nayong Pilipino grounds in Parañaque City.

She said the project “would kill the existing ecosystem” since there are trees that will be cut down.

Malilong-Isberto also raised legal concerns on the use of the property.

Nograles said the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the government and the proponent of the mega vaccination site was being finalized.

“That MoA is forthcoming, just a few minor technical edits being done. It’s already been vetted by the Department of Tourism, it’s been vetted by the Department of Health, it’s now going through our [Office of the] Government Corporate Counsel,” he said.

Nograles stressed that no trees will be affected by the construction of the mega vaccination site, which will enable the inoculation of as many as 10,000 individuals a day.

He added that the government continues to explore the possibility of building more mega vaccination facilities to ramp up its inoculation drive.

Malacañang repeated on Thursday that NPF, which is a government-owned and -controlled corporation, should not contradict the decisions of the government.

“Kinakailangan po sumunod ang Nayong Pilipino (Nayong Pilipino should follow directives),” Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said.

Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd said the 500 ipil-ipil trees that will be affected by the conversion of the Nayong Pilipino into a mega vaccination facility can be uprooted and replanted.

“Anong puno? Wala nang puno dun ah. Nasaan (What tree? There are no more trees there. Not in the proposed area),” Sotto said in a text message.

“Puro talahib lang meron sa (Only tall grass can be seen in the) proposed area. Besides, if there are indeed trees, these could be transferred by balling, or they are not aware of that process,” he said.

He also defended business tycoon Enrique Razon Jr., who proposed the facility and offered to shoulder the cost of the project.

“Mr. Razon has helped the country in so many ways before. What have his detractors done for the country? I’m not sure but one thing is certain, Mr. Razon is concerned about the country,” Sotto said.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. also defended the construction of the vaccination center at Nayong Pilipino.

Galvez said the center “will help accelerate the implementation of our national vaccination program, as it will enable us to vaccinate around 10,000 individuals daily.”

Several civil society organizations have joined ranks to oppose the proposed mega vaccination facility, saying it will only deepen vaccine inequality.

“We urge President Rodrigo Duterte, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Department of Tourism and Mr. Enrique Razon, to stop this ill-advised plan and instead focus on long-term and people-centered solutions to the health crisis,” the groups said in a joint statement released last Wednesday.

Among the signatories to the statement were Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines, Mother Earth Foundation, Oceana Philippines International, Living Laudato Si’ Philippines, Ecowaste Coalition and Zero Waste Youth Pilipinas.

They said the government should focus on setting up more equitable distribution and systems “that would bring the vaccines to where people are.”

In a statement Thursday, the ICTSI Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of Razon’s International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), defended the construction of the temporary mega vaccination center at Nayong Pilipino.

It said as early as March this year, it submitted an unsolicited proposal to the government to build the site, with the cost for construction to be fully borne by ICTSI.

The foundation said the facility is designed by Architect Felipe “Jun” Palafox Jr., “a renowned environmental planner, who is giving his services free of charge.”

It added that one of the advocacies of the foundation “is sustainable environmental protection.”

The foundation said the country’s mass inoculation program “that will save lives faces delays with the absence of a mass and efficient inoculation program along with the hope of achieving herd immunity by the end of the year.”