Houses to be cleared at CCMC site

Panganiban Street, where the old Cebu City Medical Center once stood, will be cleared of nearby houses for Phase 1. the city hospital is also expanding its services. (CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON AND JUNJIE MENDOZA)

About 10 houses at the back of the demolished Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) will have to be cleared to allow construction of the new hospital building along Natalio Bacalso Avenue, corner Panganiban Street.

City Engr. Jose Marie Poblete said removing the houses will allow heavy equipment of the private contractor to enter the fenced construction site for the new hospital building.

“I don’t consider this a setback, but it is an implementation concern. Some of them already are stuck to the wall. So there is a need to collapse that wall to give way for our equipment,” Poblete said.

He said they already met  with the illegal settlers last Sunday and will hold another meeting on Sunday.

The settlers are occupying a city-owned lot.

Meeting
During their last meeting  with the contractor, the settlers asked for financial assistance from the city government if they are  displaced.
Poblete said representatives of the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) and the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) will be invited in the next meeting to respond to this.
At present,  the private contractor C.E. Padilla Construction is driving piles to set the foundation of the 10-story hospital.
Poblete said they target to finish the piling by September 17.
Work is  still  ahead of schedule in the  P600-million first phase of the new CCMC building, he said.
Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella said he would visit the area.
“I’ll go there and check  the condition, what is the situation of these affected families. Let us always remember that these families should not be dislocated just because of the project,” he said.