COMPROMISED AGREEMENT REACHED

THE establishment of the proposed Maternal and Children Hospital (MCH) in Dagupan City is pushing through after a compromise was reached during an October 7 meeting of city officials with the Department of Health (DOH) led by Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergerie.

The meeting was attended by Mayor Belen Fernandez, DOH Regional Director Paula Paz Sydiongco, majority and minority councilors, members of the DOH technical team, and City Assessor Roland Suni.

During the meeting, Vergerie again warned that unless the required Sangguniang Panlungsod resolutions by the DOH are immediately passed, the P150 million allotted by her agency for the project will revert to the national treasury by October 11.

On October 8, the majority in the SP inserted two resolutions in its prepared agenda: one authorizing the mayor to sign for and in behalf of the city an agreement with the DOH for the establishment of the MCH, and the other asking the DOH to issue the permit for the construction of the hospital on a city government property at Torres Bugallon Avenue West (now A.B. Fernandez Avenue West).

The identified location is the lot occupied by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) building, including a parking area fronting the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the area occupied by the warehouse of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), all owned by the city of Dagupan.

The majority in the SP also wanted the building of the former Helping Hand Foundation and the NBI as additional site of the proposed hospital, but Mayor Fernandez asserted that no existing building in the area should be demolished, except the vacated LTO building.

“It’s a small area but it is better than losing the P150 million allocated by the DOH,” said the mayor, who proposed to have the MCH built on a bigger area in Barangay Pantal donated by her family to the DOH.

Based on the new sketch plan prepared by the City Assessor’s Office, the MCH building will be an inverted L-shaped facing the buildings of the Helping Hand Foundation, NBI, DSWD and the Senior Citizens office, with limited parking spaces left for these offices.

Another resolution was passed by the SP asking the DOH to issue the needed permit for the construction of the MCH. (Leonardo Micua)

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