June 4th, 2021
Principal author of institute’s charter says passing bill key to making positions permanent, well-paid
House Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay, 2nd district) acknowledged the efforts of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to begin hiring experts and personnel for the Virology Institute of the Philippines (VIP) which will be the country’s leading scientific and research center for studies on viruses.
Salceda is the principal author of House Bill 9559, which proposes to create a research and development institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) called the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines (VIP).
The VIP shall serve as the premier research and development institute in the field of virology, encompassing all areas in viruses and viral diseases in humans, plants, and animals.
The institute shall establish strategic partnerships with the world’s leading scientists, virology centers, and institutes; and conduct innovative and pioneering research that will advance the frontiers of virology in the country.
It shall promote and undertake the transfer of the results of scientific research and development to concerned government agencies, industry, and academe.
Hiring announcements for the institute were released last week, although the job openings were still on a contract-of-service basis, pending the approval of the institute’s charter.
“That is why we need to approve the bill soon, so that we can get regular funding for the institute and have its technical workers recognized as scientists and compensated accordingly,” Salceda said.
Virology Institute campus to rise in ’23 or ’24;
Salceda says that the hiring will help ensure that “there is already a technical foundation to the institute once its campus opens in Clark around 2023 or 2024.”
“The DOST is committed to opening the VIP campus by then, but we don’t have to hold back virology research until then,” Salceda added.
In late March, President Duterte’s said that among his legacies will be to establish an institute that will develop and produce vaccines in the country before his six-year term ends next year.
“This is a presidential priority so I am very confident that we can get this going. The Senate version is with Senator Go and his committee, like the CDC. So, I hope it moves soon,” Salceda added.