By Leonardo Micua

 

IT seems that the people of Dagupan will now have to kiss the planned P150-million Mother and Child Hospital, courtesy of the Department of Health (DOH), goodbye following a resolution adopted by the seven majority in the city council that in the words of City Legal Officer Aurora Valle is “useless” and “unimplementable”.

The Dagupan SP was given until end-December this year to pass  resolution authorizing Mayor Belen Fernandez to sign a memorandum of agreement with the DOH, otherwise the grant will revert back to the national coffers.

Lo and behold, Draft Resolution No. R-6423 authored by the seven-man majority never made mention of the word “authorizing”, nor a MOA to be signed, and even intentionally skipped the name of the mayor.

What was striking in the resolution was the name of ex-mayor Marc Brian C. Lim, which was mentioned at least four times — fanning the suspicion that it was him who was tapped by the seven to draft the resolution as the same was laden with much fire and hate towards Mayor Fernandez.

He has many axes to grind against Belen, who hit him in the jugular and knocked him out in their return bout in 2022. This must be the reason why that resolution was worded in a sarcastic and undiplomatic way.

Tailor-made to glorify the former mayor, who was defeated in the 2022 election by a plurality of more than 14,000 votes and could be raring to come back in 2025 as if his loss was a fluke, the resolution merely manifested the majority’s acquiescence and support to the construction of the hospital.

They lost sight of the fact that the required resolution was merely to give Mayor Belen authority to sign the MOA for and in behalf of the city to get the project going.

So, it is bye-bye to that P150 million fund because the SP enacted a “useless” and “unimplementable” resolution after more than one year of waiting.

It is as clear as the day that the SP majority does not want the P150-million fund to be used during the term of Mayor Belen since the fund was allocated to Dagupan by DOH during the term of former Mayor Lim.

That was a sorely misplaced thought, thinking only selfishly for themselves and not the people.

The resolution clearly speaks of their intent: “WHEREAS, this acquiescence to the construction of the Maternity  and Children’s Hospital  is subject to the condition that the said hospital to be erected on property owned and controlled by the City Government and not on any property owned and donated by the family of the incumbent local chief executive, or any public official within the fourth civil degree or affinity or consanguinity for ethical and legal reasons cited; otherwise this resolution shall be deemed nugatory for failure to comply  with the condition set forth.”

With that mindset put into a resolution, they prevented not just Mayor Belen but any good Samaritan in Dagupan who has land to spare from donating any property to the city for a good purpose.

As an alternative to the donated land as site of the MCH, the seven majority councilors latest proposed site is the lot vacated by the Land Transportation Office in Poblacion Oeste, just below the New Pantal Bridge and a spitting distance away from the Pantal River.

Majority Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia imagined the lot to be more or less 10,000 sqm but its actual area is actually 850 sqm, which could not meet the requirements of the DOH that the MCH must occupy a land area of at least 2,000 sqm for the building and an adequate parking area.

The people of Dagupan will surely not easily forget that the seven majority councilors squandered the last opportunity for Dagupan to have a hospital that they can call their own.

We will have to see how that will impact the May 2025 elections as the seven are expected to go to the Comelec in a few days to file their respective CoCs.

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