National virology lab, center for disease control bills pushed

MANILA, Philippines — For the Philippines to be better prepared for public health emergencies while fighting off the COVID-19 pandemic, Sen. Bong Go renewed yesterday his call for the immediate passage of two legislative measures.

First is for the establishment of the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines (VIP) and the other is a bill creating the Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Both these measures are authored by Go, who chairs the Senate committee on health, and mentioned in President Duterte’s final State of the Nation Address (SONA) last year.

“I salute President Duterte’s continued leadership throughout this unprecedented pandemic and he continues to find ways to push for a more proactive approach in addressing public health emergencies of any kind,” the senator said.

“Every time we are remiss in preparation, lives may be lost. So we must be one step ahead. We’ll never know when the next pandemic would hit. So it is better if we are proactive,” he said in Filipino.

Go’s Senate Bill 2155 seeks to create a national virology laboratory that will study and investigate viral diseases in the country. The overall goal of the VIP is to help develop vaccines against highly pathogenic emerging viruses.

The bill, among others, provides guidelines for the establishment and operation of testing, reference and biosafety levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 research laboratories. It likewise grants the VIP the authority to regulate the operation of the existing virology laboratory network in the country.

“These efforts are intended to avoid similar situations where poorer nations are left with fewer medical resources, particularly vaccines, to address pandemics as compared to their more developed countries that have early on invested in health sciences and medical research,” Go said.

Meanwhile, his SB 2505 on the creation of the Philippine CDC is the consolidated version of an earlier measure he authored and filed in May 2021.

The proposed CDC will be primarily responsible for protecting Filipinos from health threats, both foreign and domestic. To accomplish this, the CDC will detect and respond to new and emerging health threats, conduct scientific research and communicate critical health information to the public.

The bill also establishes four sub centers that will carry out the functions of the CDC, namely, Center for Health Statistics, Center for Surveillance and Epidemiology, Center for Health Evidence and Center for Reference Laboratories.

The CDC shall serve as an agency within the Department of Health led by the director general, with the rank of undersecretary, and the deputy director general.

During a state of public health emergency, all health personnel, including those employed by local government units, will directly report to the Center.

SB 2155 is currently pending in the committee on science and technology chaired by Sen. Nancy Binay while SB 2505 is set for plenary deliberations.