Internal Docs Reveal Possible Effects, Contentions against Nayong Pilipino Vaccination Site
Three internal documents from the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) show the extent and possible effects of the erection of the Nayong Pilipino Mega-Vaccination Facility by International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), including environmental impacts and legal issues that may arise from it.
The Philippine National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF COVID-19) has a new plan to vaccinate more people: building a mega-vaccination site in the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) grounds in Parañaque City with the help of billionaire Enrique Razon Jr. This plan has been the subject of intense media coverage in the past week, as the tirades between NPF, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., and Razon reached fever pitch.
As it turns out, the tension between these parties has been present since the onset of negotiations. With multiple parties warring on the issue, COMMONER reviews the documents detailing the facets of the issue.
Part I. The Internal Documents
Last May 12, three internal documents from a source privy to the communications regarding the mega-vaccination facility was sent to COMMONER. Two are presentation decks outlining the current state of the Nayong Pilipino site and an ongoing plan to build an urban forest with a creative hub within. The other one is a 19-page letter that includes the legal arguments of NFP against the establishment of the mega-vaccination facility, as well as the correspondence between NFP, the Department of Tourism, and ICTSI Foundation. The latter is the philanthropic arm of the International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), a developer and operator of ports around the globe, who built a quarantine facility in the Nayong Pilipino site and proposed to erect a mega-vaccination facility in the same grounds.
According to the 19-page internal document acquired by COMMONER, the NPF initially received a memorandum from its mother agency, the Department of Tourism (DOT) headed by Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, on March 25, 2021, prompting them to review a proposal from the ICTSI Foundation. The proposal was a one-page letter signed by its chairman Enrique Razon Jr. According to the letter, the ICTSI Foundation, which was already using 1.5 hectares of the 15-hectare property as a site for a 600-bed mega–quarantine facility (now operated by the IATF thru the AFP Medical Corps), wanted to use the remaining portion to build a COVID-19 vaccination facility in anticipation of the incoming privately acquired Moderna vaccines.
NPF sent a response to DOT four days later declining said proposal as the NPF Board of Trustees was resolved to use the property for its mandated purpose of establishing a cultural park. Another reason was ICTSI failed to provide concrete details in their proposal. The one-page letter from ICTSI did not include any details, feasibility studies, or layout for the facility. It also did not specify the duration of the use, “if or when NPF can get the property back,” or the kind of changes that will be done on the property. The letter likewise did not include a clear rationale as to why the Nayong Pilipino grounds is the most ideal site for vaccination. In other words, it was a very lacking proposal that barely included supporting information on why the vaccination facility had to be built on that particular site. Instead, the letter appeared to be a formalization of the global port operator’s plan to extend their hold on the Nayong Pilipino grounds.
“We plan to design and plan an efficient [v]accination process logistically patterned after the most efficient processes in the US,” the letter from ICTSI read. “We do understand that there will be [s]ite [d]evelopment and improvements that we need to undertake given the opportunity to help get this done properly. And we are most willing to do this at our cost. We will coordinate this task with IATF and DOH, as necessary.”
On March 31, NPF responded to DOT that they are rejecting ICTSI’s proposal.
The letter from NPF, signed by its then executive director Lucille Karen E. Malilong-Isberto, said that she personally called Mr. Naty Almeda of the Razon Group to further flesh out the details of the proposal, as Mr. Almeda was the one in charge of the matter. She was referred to Almeda by National Action Plan against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vivencio Dizon.
According to Almeda, ICTSI was planning “to operate a drive-through vaccination facility” that entailed the building of roads and parking lots in the NPF property — the cost of which would be shouldered by ICTSI.
The foundation once again failed to produce most of the details lacking in their one-page proposal. Secretary Romulo-Puyat however clarified in a press statement on May 12 that “the use of the NPF [p]roperty will be time-bound for one year” and that the facility will be exclusively used as a vaccination center. A design by Palafox Architects, the firm handling the project, was also included in the statement. Romulo-Puyat said that it was NPF that pointed out which areas could be used.
NPF has yet to confirm whether this is true or not, nor has a copy of the memorandum of agreement showing the limit to the use of the facility been made public.
On April 8, the tension around the mega-vaccination facility reached new heights after NTF COVID-19 applied pressure on NPF. A special board meeting was convened to discuss various concerns regarding the facility. The attendees were DOT Secretary Romulo-Puyat, DOT Undersecretary Edwin R. Enrile, DOT Director Lara Victoria Estevez-Austria, Intramuros Administration Administrator Guiller B. Asido, and Mr. J. V. Emmanuel A. de Dios, the chief executive of Prime Metro BMD Corp., ICTSI’s contractor.
On the same day, NPF gave its approval for the use of the land as a vaccination facility, but communicated environmental and legal issues that the facility may run against. Still, no memorandum of agreement has been signed as of press date.
Part II. Environmental and Legal Barriers
Nayong Pilipino: Not a Wasteland
Sec. Galvez claims that the proposed site for the mega-vaccination facility is akin to a wasteland. He says that it is but a reclaimed piece of land and not a protected forest or a marine sanctuary. Razon has also called the NPF board “idiots” as they were bent on prioritizing the preservation of the site over the lives of the Filipinos who would be vaccinated there.
A site analysis document of Nayong Pilipino shared with COMMONER shows that it is one of the few remaining green and open spaces in Parañaque City. It shares a coastline with the Las Piñas–Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA), a wetland site of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. Nayong Pilipino is also along a Migratory Bird Flyway Network in the Philippines. This means that Nayong Pilipino is traversed by different species of birds while migrating from breeding grounds and critical habitats. In fact, in a September 2020 assessment by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, there have been over 25 bird species found within the property. Moreover, because of its proximity to water and its state as a beach prior to its reclamation in the early 2000s, it is also home to beach forest plant species and around 460 trees — some of which may be cut down if the building of the mega-vaccination facility pushes through. These make Nayong Pilipino a significant site for urban biodiversity conservation.
Pres. Rodrigo Duterte also seems to be aware of Nayong Pilipino’s importance, as he himself has identified the development of an urban forest park as one of his legacy projects according to the documents shared by NPF. Through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) development project, a cultural park and creative hub in the property is set to be established on the site as approved by Pres. Duterte in 2019. According to a presentation deck dated April 15, 2021, the vision for Nayong Pilipino is to host an urban forest park with spaces for cultural and creative industries, research resources, a museum, and facilities for creative innovation. The project, dubbed “Sambayanihan,” is intended to culminate before Pres. Duterte’s term ends in 2022. It will be built around the already existing quarantine facility in the grounds and will have a plant nursery, park rangers station, linear forest park, and on-site activities to promote citizen-led biodiversity conservation.
If successfully built, it will create jobs, promote sustainable tourism, and stimulate creative initiatives, according to the NPF. Prior to the project’s suspension last year, there have been ongoing consultations with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the Creative Content Creators Association of the Philippines, Inc., and Philippine Parks & Biodiversity, as well as cultural groups, indigenous peoples, and local and international workers in heritage and park management.
The mega-vaccination facility will set this ongoing initiative back, if not totally have it shelved, as it will occupy a significant portion of the property. It will also inadvertently disturb the ecosystem in Nayong Pilipino, on top of effecting the other environmental impacts of constructing a facility.
Legal Barriers
Aside from environmental concerns, the mega-vaccination facility by ICTSI Foundation might also run afoul with certain laws, as bared by the NPF document.
According to NPF, the use of the property is subject to Presidential Decree №1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, which states that the use of governmental funds and properties shall only be for public purposes. It is also subject to COA Circular №88–282A, which extends public works standards and guidelines to Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) that include Nayong Pilipino. This particular regulation has been reiterated in COA Circular №2019–005.
The construction of the mega-vaccination facility, the roads around it, and the parking lot for the project will be run, administered, and managed by ICTSI, a private entity. Given that, NPF argues that the agreement must be “scrutinized for reasonableness.”
Nayong Pilipino’s property in Parañaque is also a product of a 2007 executive order (EO №615), which transferred it to the 15-hectare Philippine Reclamation Authority property on which it currently stands. The sole purpose of Nayong Pilipino, according to EO №615, is for the establishment of a new cultural park. Using it as a site for a new vaccination facility, NPF argues, may lead to charges of technical malversation as stated in Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code, although a possible solution is the consequent issuance of another executive order by the president. This new and hypothetical EO could alter the purpose of the property as a whole. The proclamation of state of calamity due to COVID-19 in the country (Proclamation №1021) could also be used as a counterargument against the potential violation, as it allows the diversion of public properties for the promotion of public health and safety.
However, turning the property to a mega-vaccination facility appears illogical, NPF implies, if not even an affront to the mandates given to the Department of Health (DOH) and to local government units (LGUs). DOH, not DOT, should hold primary responsibility in formulating, planning, implementing, and coordinating policies and programs in the field of health as stated in the Administrative Code of 1987.
LGUs, on the other hand, are the appropriate government body to discharge health services in their localities. The same structure has in fact been adopted by the Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for COVID-19, which has stated that the “response should be national-government-enabled, local government unit (LGU)-led, and people-centered.”
Romulo-Puyat, however, has clarified in her statement that DOT is only facilitating the use of the NPF property as its mother agency — the same way it facilitated the use of a portion of Rizal Park as a vaccination site. DOH will be the agency to enter into an agreement on and oversee the operations of the ICTSI’s vaccination site. A technical working group has also been created to “formulate guidelines for similar future arrangements,” and Malilong-Isberto is aware of the functions of the group.
NPF also points out that in chapter six of the National Vaccination Plan, LGUs shall take the lead in implementing COVID-19 vaccination programs, while participating agencies and the private sector are enjoined to coordinate with them. DOH shall be the one to issue policies and guidelines, and no vaccination activities must be done without guidance from DOH. At present, there are no guidelines for the mega-vaccination facility as these are still being drafted, according to the NPF letter.
It is also important to note, according to NPF, that NTF COVID-19 has no authority to enter into contracts and agreements, as it does not have its own juridical personality unlike the national government and its political subdivisions, LGUs, and public corporations, institutions, and entities. A task force does not belong to any of these classifications as it is only an interim team. This means that if an agreement is made with NTF as a party, demanding for terms to be upheld may be particularly challenging. In the same vein, penalizing NTF in case of a breach of agreement may be difficult. For example, if the property is not returned to Nayong Pilipino, running after NTF and liable officers to uphold the agreement may be impossible.
A review of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021 (Republic Act №11525) shows that DOH and NTF are allowed to enter into multiparty agreements for the “procurement of COVID-19 vaccines by LGUs and Private Sector,” as well as goods and services needed to store, transport, deploy, and administer such vaccines.
Where We Are
Although NPF has made it clear that they are opposed to ICTSI’s proposal after their repeated refusal to sign the Memorandum of Agreement, it’s likely that the mega-vaccination plan will be built regardless. Architect Felino Palafox Jr. has already been contracted for the project. The Malacañang palace, through spokesperson Harry Roque, Sec. Galvez, and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, has also dipped its toes on the matter, adding pressure on NPF’s back.
“We do not wish to downplay the position taken by the NPF board, but it must surely know the urgency of the situation our nation is confronting,” Sec. Galvez has said. “Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic more than a year ago, everything that we do is a race against time.”
But the problem with the country’s inoculation program is not the lack of facilities per se but the low supply and speed of rollout of vaccines. There are readily available facilities to host mass vaccinations such as schools that have seen no occupants since the start of the pandemic. There are malls that are much more accessible especially for carless commuters than Nayong Pilipino. There are also local health centers, churches, gymnasiums, basketball courts, and other open areas within each city across the country. However, given the sensitivity of Moderna and other mRNA vaccines, special refrigeration units may be needed to store them.
Malilong-Isberto, for her part, still seems to resent such a move — hinting that there may be more than meets the eye.
“The land has no septage or sewerage system, no water or electricity connection, no toilets. Why would [Nayong Pilipino] be the ideal site for vaccination?” Malilong-Isberto said in an interview with Manila Bulletin. In an interview with ANC, Razon clarified that such facilities shall also be built alongside the facility.
The NPF documents reveal how the facility will affect Nayong Pilipino’s flagship urban forest project. Additionally, they bare the environmental concerns and potential legal violations that may arise from the construction of the mega-vaccination facility.
“What government agency will use the land? Who will be vaccinated there?” asked Malilong-Isberto. “All these laws remain in effect and cannot be ignored on the bare claim that the land is needed for vaccination,” she added.
