SP opposition: Place hospital in city government property
MOTHER-CHILD HOSPITAL ISSUE
THE opposition, which comprises the majority in the Dagupan City council, admitted that it is all for the establishment of the Mother and Child Hospital on one condition: It should be established in a city government property, of which there is none at the moment.
Councilor Redford Erfe Mejia clarified that the majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod did not close the door to the construction of the hospital that was provided P150 million by the Duterte administration in the General Appropriations Act during the administration of then Mayor Brian Lim.
He said they object to the plan of the city government to locate it on a more than one-hectare lot along Jose de Venecia Expressway in Barangay Pantal donated to the Department of Health (DOH) last year by Kerwin Fernandez, brother of Mayor Belen Fernandez.
DOH’s legal officer Jordan Falcis said that the Dagupan City government will execute a usufruct agreement for 25 years, renewable for another 25 years for the donated land to be used for the Mother and Child Hospital.
The seven majority councilors made the clarification after their earlier sites were rejected by the Belen Fernandez administration, among these were at the:
- Location of the Juan P. Guadiz Elementary School on Poblacion Oeste. However, in 2013, the Department of Education refused to give up the lot.
- In Barangay Bonuan Binloc by the boundary of Dagupan and Mangaldan. City Health Officer Ophelia Rivera opposed the site not only because the city government does not own a land in the area but because it can result in complications when patients from San Fabian and Mangaldan decide to avail of services of the hospital that will be funded solely by Dagupan City.
- Location of CSI Market Square being leased by the CSI Group of Companies, owned by the family of Mayor Fernandez.
Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire was in Dagupan City two weeks ago and expressed DOH’s all-out support for the establishment of the Mother and Child Hospital. (Leonardo Micua)
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