The Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) committed to help the Cebu City Government in funding the construction of a new Ceby City Medical Center building.
Mayor Michael Rama made this announcement following his meeting with Health Secretary Enrique Ona in Manila last week.
“With the side of Secretary Ona, it was a very clear statement that he will be really supporting,” Rama said yesterday.
The mayor also met with Pagcor Chairman Cristino “Bong” Naguiat who also wanted to help.
“He was sincere that he will also be helping CCMC. There was a figure he stated, but I don’t want to be revealing. I insisted to him if we can have one floor adopted,” Rama said.
During their meeting , Rama said he was also introduced to a Japanese group that could help fund the hospital project.
The DOH-7 earlier endorsed to DOH Central Office in Manila to include a P1 billion allocation from the department’s budget for the the new hospital building.
Rama is set to meet with National Economic and Development Authority (Neda-7) Director Efren Carreon, together with Cebu City Development Council head Engr. Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez and City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete to discuss the requirements for the project.
According to Budget Secretary Butch Abad, the Neda should be made part of the discussions for the project, specifically the Infrastructure Investment Coordination Committee.
“When I called (Budget Secretary) Butch Abad, he said Neda should be a part of this since the project is over P1 billion,” Rama said.
SM Prime Holdings, Inc. President Hans Sy also gave his commitment.
“He also was very receptive to my idea about by helping through adoption. He was just requesting if the help can be given in a staggered manner. I said, why should we choose what way?” Rama said.
There is also another potential donor who Rama refused to identify since he only spoke with a representative who promised to discuss the matter with their bosses.
“And you pray for me, I’m leaving this week for another begging. I’m not begging for my pocket, I’m begging for a structure that will be there and that will leave an imprint on what begging can produce,” he said.
Rama will be leaving for the United States on Thursday for a week-long visit. His itinerary includes visiting the headquarters of Operation Smile in Virginia state where he will present the design of the new hospital building project to the organization.
Last week, the CCMC ad hoc committee unveiled the 10-story building design for the new CCMC which will be constructed on the former site of the old hospital.
The committee also presented specific costing computation per building floor.
Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung of the Operation Smile’s board of governors had earlier committed to allocate P100 million for the CCMC construction.
The City Council had earlier allocated P300 million as seed money for the initial construction of the new CCMC which has a total estimated cost of P1.4 billion.
During their session last week, the council had already asked the City Treasurer’s Office to transfer the amount from the general fund to the CCMC trust fund.