International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), taking the lead for the Razon Group, continues its initiatives to help the government in its pandemic recovery efforts, making social investments of P1.5 billion thus far.
Over the course of 21 months since the onset of the community quarantines, ICTSI, in collaboration with the government and the private sector, purchased vaccines and facilitated rollouts, built quarantine and testing facilities, built testing facilities, supported programs on hunger alleviation, assisted health care workers and institutions, among others.
“The battle to turn the tide of this pandemic continues, and there is no room for complacency. It is imbibed in our corporate culture to help where we can, and we will continue to do that beyond this pandemic. The social investment is worth it as we see lives saved and the economy gradually opening,”
Christian Gonzalez, ICTSI executive vice president,
ICTSI led private sector efforts in assisting the government purchase vaccines: the first 3 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, where ICTSI sponsored 300,000 doses, half of which were donated to the national government and half to local government units; and the 20 million doses of Moderna vaccines, where 13 million doses were allotted to the public sector and 7 million to the private sector.
To facilitate the logistics of the bulk order, ICTSI installed a temporary cold storage and drive-through vaccination facility at the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) property in Paranaque City. Opened in August, the P250 million vaccination facility has a capacity to administer 15,000 doses daily.
To facilitate the vaccination of employees and dependents of the private sector buyers of Moderna vaccines, ICTSI and Bloomberry Resort Corp. retrofitted portions of the Solaire Resort and Casino into vaccination areas. Opened in June, the Solaire facility can administer 6,000 shots a day. As of November 22, both NPF and Solaire facilities administered over 300,000 vaccine doses.
ICTSI, together with Bloomberry and Prime Infrastructure Holdings, Inc., assisted the government in retrofitting existing public infrastructure into quarantine and isolation facilities. These were the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, and a part of the Philippine General Hospital. A 600-bed quarantine facility, the largest in Metro Manila, was also built in Entertainment City.
