CLARK FREEPORT President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Thursday reiterated his plan to establish a local virology institute and disease prevention and control center.
Marcos made this remark during the 15th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week celebration at the Clark Marriott Hotel in this Freeport.
The president said the immediate passage of a measure creating the Virology Institute of the Philippines (VIP) would consolidate disparate research, knowledge, and data.
A bill creating the Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control will also prepare the country for unfortunate warnings concerning pandemics, he added.
“We have been in consultation with the House of Representatives and the Senate to create these agencies. We will continue to work so that our people are safer, so that our citizens have better access to health care, and so that the quality of our health care will improve,” Marcos said.
Meanwhile, the President lauded the country’s health researchers for their “unparalleled commitment” to helping the country respond to the pandemic.
Marcos cited the genome sequencing and tests kits developed by local researchers at the height of the pandemic.
"That is why the work that you did, that developed – the genome sequencing so that we could follow and identify and detect the different strains as they came about, the tests kits that you were able to develop for the local community, the modeling that was done – this was all a fruit and of your partnership, and it is something that has never been seen before,” he said.
The PNHRS Week recognizes research as crucial in facilitating the development of national health policies towards an equitable, efficient, and effective health system. It is celebrated every second week of August under Presidential Proclamation 1309 of June 2007.