MAYOR Belen Fernandez is not taking the rejection of the proposed Mother and Child Hospital (MCH) being offered to Dagupan by the Department of Health sitting down after the majority bloc thumbed down a draft resolution for its establishment by the health committee chaired by Councilor Marilou Fernandez after just one committee hearing.

She launched her campaign during the flag ceremony at the city plaza on December 4, rallying all Dagupenos, especially mothers, to fight for the establishment of the hospital with a P150 million grant from the DOH.

Then, she echoed her call during a press conference two days later to barangay captains, 29 of the 31 of whom are her allies, and asked Sangguniang Kabataan members under Federation President Bradley Benavides to file a petition before the Sangguniang Panlungsod for the adoption of the proposed ordinance.

The mayor reiterated her call during the distribution of Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) at the city plaza, courtesy of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Imee Marcos, slamming the disservice of the majority bloc, depriving the beneficiaries of the health care that can be expected from the planned MCH.

She also announced that since the city government has no lot to offer for the hospital, her brother Kerwin, is willing to donate to the DOH a 2,000 square meter lot along Jose de Venecia Expressway (in Pantal) for the hospital just to facilitate the construction.

The offer of donation by the younger Fernandez was endorsed by Barangay Captains Julie Perez of Pantal, Marcelino Fernandez of Lucao and Sydney Lomboy of Tapuac.

The majority bloc quickly objected to offered donation and proposed instead that the hospital be located in one of three sites: the Juan P. Guadiz Elementary School lot in Barangay Poblacion Oeste, at the boundary of Barangay Binloc and Mangaldan, and at the present CSI Market Square.

Fernandez said the DepEd already nixed the Juan P.  Elementary School 2015 as the site when then Mayor Benjamin Lim wanted to build a city-owned Mother and Child Hospital.

She said the MCH at the boundary of Dagupan and Mangaldan will easily strain resources for the operations of the MCH because the hospital cannot stop residents from Mangaldan  and San San Fabian from availing of the services of the hospital.

She said the proposal to set up the MCH at the CSI Market Square owned by the Fernandez family, built  on a lot being leased from the city for commercial purposes, is not only insane but merely an attempt to throw a monkey wrench at the program.

Through it all, she expressed willingness to meet the majority bloc to listen to their misgivings about the project. (Leonardo Micua)

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