City hall turns the table on Dr. Mejia
THE BLAME GAME
IT was not us but the management of the R1 Medical Center that caused the delay in the completion of the construction of the Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center dormitory in Barangay Bonuan Binloc.
This was clarified by City Engineer Virginia Rosario as she flatly refuted the claim of Dr. Joseph Roland Mejia, director of the Region 1 Medical Center, that it was the Dagupan City government that caused the delay.
She maintained that the documented chronology of the events clearly showed it was R1MC itself that delayed the construction of the project to be funded by the P5 million provided by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) through Secretary Antonio Villar Jr.
Rosario said she felt constrained to make the clarification after being informed that Mejia acquitted himself of any blame in a media interview he arranged explaining his responsibility and accountability over the delay in the completion of the center.
She cited a letter of City Planning and Development Coordinator Romeo Rosario, Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) chair of Dagupan which answered a letter of Dr. Mejia who in a letter to the BAC chair on Feb. 10, 2015: “we are displeased with the relatively long time it is taking the projects to move forward. The continued vacillation in carrying out the Memorandum of Agreement is making us weary and exasperated at this point, so that it makes no difference to us whether or not you still want to proceed. . .”
The DOH, represented by R1MC, DDB and the Dagupan City government signed a memorandum of agreement to implement the project and each entity was assigned specific tasks under the agreement.
In the agreement signed in early 2014, the city government was identifed as the implementing agency. But since DOH was going to use the project, it was agreed the building plans would come from the DOH.
She said the detailed building plan for the construction of the Treatment and Rehabilitation Dormitory and the perimeter fence was only received by the city government sometime in February 2015.
Again, in his letter to Mejia dated February 13, 2015, the BAC Chair wrote: “We do not wish to engage in acidic exchanges of blame for there are better task ahead “.
He reminded Dr.Mejia of the following:
1) “Your institution initially wanted our City to pay the Five Million Pesos (P5,000,000.00) over a structure that was already halfway built or has already been completed. The Commission on Audit (COA)) however objected to this because the City, as the entity to which the funds were given, should be the implementing entity.”
2) “As consequence, the City requested for your institution’s submission of the detailed plans and others. These documents were only received this February 2015.”
Rosario said COA did not allow the construction of the facility without going through the proper legal processes like preparations of building plans and specifications and going through public bidding.
In his letter, Rosario assured Mejia that the city government is firm in its commitment to ensure effective utilization of the financial assistance provided by the DDB in accordance with the terms and conditions of the MOA and in consonant with COA rules.
Engr. Rosario said there was also a delay on the part of the DOH in pinpointing the site at the drug treatment facility compound where the building would be built.
But she said it was only after all these were provided that the city government began constructing the facility, and after conducting groundbreaking rites sometime last March.
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