President Rodrigo Duterte is set to review the submitted recommendations of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to establish research centers amid the coronavirus pandemic, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.
DOST recommended the establishment of Pharmaceutical Development Center and the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines, which has been then approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) last Friday, May 22.
Roque’s statement read,”If and once approved by PRRD, both can start in 2020, with the Pharmaceutical Group and the Virology Research Group evolving out of DOST’s Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI).”
The spokesperson also acknowledged that DOST has included the budget for the establishment of these research centers in their 2021 Budget Proposal.
These planned research centers are expected to help the country battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
