De los Santos: CCMC will rise

CEBU, Philippines - Construction of the 10-story building for the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) will resume once all requirements are met.

This was the assurance of Councilor Mary Ann de los Santos whom Mayor Tomas Osmeña designated to head efforts in line with CCMC.

Then again, this might take a while after Engr. Josefa Ylanan, head of the city's Office of the Building Official, found more deficiencies such as the absence of mechanical and electrical plans, barangay clearance, complete design and detail of the building, and a plan approved by the City Council.

De los Santos said she does not mind stopping the construction even for a year as long as the requirements are complied with.

"Another truth is that, once the mistakes and lapses will be corrected, CCMC project will continue and will push through without any violations being committed so as not to waste government time, effort, and money," she told reporters yesterday.

She made the statement following information circulating that stopping the construction is a delaying tactic of the incoming administration and a sign that the project will no longer push through.

De los Santos said the insinuation that the CCMC project has been cancelled and or will be scrapped eventually is "baseless and unfounded."

City Hall stopped the construction last June 23 when it found out the project does not have a building permit, that the lot where the building is being constructed is yet to be identified, and the building is encroaching the road, which will be widened.

The old CCMC was demolished in 2014 because it became unsafe for occupancy following the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that hit Central Visayas in 2013.

Deficiencies

City Engineer Josefa Ylanan said the problem of construction having encroached the road can be addressed in two ways: amend the ordinance to transfer the road widening across the CCMC building and remove the implanted nine columns of the hospital building.

"Without the widening, we only have one-meter sidewalk (side of CCMC) but if we will insist on road widening to have wider roads, there will be nine columns that will be affected. That's already there, already implanted," she said.

"I asked the architect, the designer, what will happen if these columns will be affected. Then he cited several amenities that will be removed in the design," she said further.

Ylanan said the designer of the building already knew about the problem because the old structure has also encroached on the road. She said the previous administration should have corrected the lapse before construction started.

Ylanan said only De los Santos and Osmeña can decide which option to pursue.

De los Santos said, "We saw the problem. We are trying the problem solve. We want to move forward."

She said she wants to "start everything right" and that it would be "fair" for the incoming administration to correct the mistake.

"Rest assured, I am delegated this executive function by mayor Tommy, I would like to tell you that dare to dream, CCMC will rise. It will rise with integrity, credibility, and most especially, transparency," De los Santos said.

Acting mayor Margarita Osmeña has asked members of the Movement for a Livable Cebu to stop criticizing the city government for suspending the construction because the architect is a member of the group.

"It is partly the fault of their member why we are suspending… a delay is not a disaster," she said. — Jean Marvette A. Demecillo (FREEMAN)