It will probably take the full term of a President to construct the proposed Virology Institute of the Philippines (VIP).
Catanduanes lone district Rep. Hector Sanchez gave this estimate Monday during the joint panel hearing of the House Committee on Health and the COVID-19 Response Cluster of the Defeat COVID-19 Ad Hoc Committee.
Discussed during the virtual hearing were seven measures--House Bill Nos. 6793, 6798, 6808, 6838, 6873, 6913, and 6992-- which all seek to institutionalize the Philippine Virology Science and Technology Institute or VIP for short.
During the tail end of the hearing, Batanes lone district Rep. Ciriaco Gato Jr. asked the attending resource persons how long the wait would be before the country gets an operational virology center granted that the bills are passed, pronto.
"Is five years a fair estimate (from construction) to actual operation of the institute?" Gato said.
"Five years? Naku matagal napo iyon (That would be too long)," Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato dela Peña said in response.
"We would like to see it fully operational siguro within two years from the establishment of the institute by law," Dela Peña said, eliciting a "Very Good!" comment from one of the bills' authors in Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda.
Sanchez, however, "overruled" the DOST chief and said that five years would be the "minimum construction period" for the VIP.
"I was involved in UP genome that's why I can tell you that a minimum of five years (is needed). And then because this is more complicated. This is a controlled-temperature (facility). All laboratories are special," he said.
By "UP genome," the Energy Committee vice-chairman was referring to the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) in UP-Diliman (University of the Philippines-Diliman). None of the attending resource persons challenged Sanchez's five-year estimate.
For context on time, it only took eight months for the Philippines (mid-January to mid-August) to record over 164,000 positive cases of COVID-19. Over 2,600 people have died from the incurable disease.
The VIP is intended for the development of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics in which scientists could collaboratively work on the study of viruses of agricultural, industrial, clinical, and environmental importance, among other purposes.
But not all forces are working against the speedy construction of the facility, which has been tagged as a top priority of the Duterte administration amid the reshaped focus of nations worldwide because of the unexpected pandemic.
"One good development is that in addition to the support of the BCDA (Bases Conversion and Development Authority) for the setting up of the building, the infrastructure cluster already included the budget for the building for (the) 2021 (budget proposal). I think that is a very good development, meaning to say we're just waiting for the law to establish it," Dela Peña said.
"At the same time, DBM (Department of Budget and Management) included P339 million for the initial operation of the VIP for 2021. Well of course in terms of location, it may not yet be ready...to establish a facility, we need a period of at least one year to set it up (construction). As you know, construction activities right now are not at the same speed during normal times," he noted.
In the end, Health Committee chairperson, Quezon 4th district Rep. Angelina Tan, approved the creation of a technical working group in an effort to consolidate the seven measures.
Tan said the VIP creation would be a concrete step and strategic response not only to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to emergency preparedness.
On the other hand, Salceda said having a virology institute would show the country’s resiliency toward any changes in the environment.