Billionaire Enrique Razon Jr.’s International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) said spending on programs combating COVID-19 and hunger alleviation would continue “beyond this pandemic” as social investments hit P1.5 billion thus far.
“The social investment is worth it as we see lives saved and the economy gradually opening,” ICTSI executive vice president Christian R. Gonzalez said in a statement.
Over the past 21 months, ICTSI said it collaborated with government and private sector partners to purchase COVID-19 vaccines, build quarantine and testing facilities while assisting health-care workers and feeding hungry Filipinos.
No room for complacency
“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,” Gonzalez said.
ICTSI played a crucial role in securing the first 3 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines, with the company sponsoring 300,000 doses, half of which were donated to the national government and half to local government units.
It also secured 20 million doses of Moderna vaccines, 13 million doses of which were allotted to the public sector and 7 million to the private sector.
The company also invested in a temporary cold storage and drive-through vaccination facility at the Nayong Pilipino Foundation property in Parañaque City.
The P250-million vaccination facility, opened last August, has a capacity to administer 15,000 doses daily.