The House of Representatives has approved on second reading the charter of the Virology and Vaccines Institute of the Philippines (VVIP), a priority measure of the Marcos administration.
In a news statement, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, principal author of the bill, said that he is hopeful that “since we approved it in the House early, there is enough time in the Senate to get it done this time around.”
The lower chamber is expected to approve the bill creating the Virology and Vaccines Institute of the Philippines next week.
The institute will be a research center for the study of viruses, how the government can respond to them, and how they can be used for different purposes, said Salceda.
The lawmaker added that the institute aims to be the country’s serum institute.
“India continues to be one of the world’s largest manufacturers of Covid vaccines even if it did not originate [from] them, because they have a serum institute. Vietnam solved ASF [African swine fever] first because their serum institute invented a vaccine early on,” he said.
According to Salceda, the vaccine institute is not merely a health institute.
“The applications for virology are immense and broad. Food security, forest management, and the development of a strong pharmaceutical sector all benefit from a strong grasp of viruses,” he added.
Salceda said “a campus is now ready for the VVIP in Clark, where they will be a key feature.”
The VVIP will create a state-of-the-art virology laboratory in New Clark City, which can create vaccines and serums and conduct research and projects on plant and animal viruses, on top of human viral diseases.
“These measures will make our health system more resilient. The capacity of a country to contain epidemics depends on its institutional capacity above everything else. If we have strong and resilient disease control and management institutions, we can weather global pandemic events more strongly,” he said.
“We can’t predict the future, but institutional capacity anticipates a broader range of extreme events. It’s like bodybuilding for future pandemics,” Salceda added.
The lawmaker said that multilateral financing could easily be obtained once the Senate approves the measure.
“We don’t have it in the 2023 budget yet, but multilaterals will be happy to finance it so we can hit the road,” he said.
“I am confident the Senate will get it done this time around since we started early in the administration,” Salceda added.