Rama to CCMC execs, staff: Work right or get out

CEBU, Philippines —   “If you cannot make things happen, then get out!”

This was the statement of a displeased Mayor Michael Rama to officials and personnel of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) during a visit on Monday, August 15, 2022, when he found out that his instructions have not been acted upon.

Rama wanted improvements done on the lobby and other parts of the hospital but these did not materialize.

Rama said he does not mind that the city shelling out funds to see good results rather than losing funds to corruption.

The mayor has said he will visit CCMC every week to monitor the progress of its construction. He wants the hospital finished by January 2023 and fully operational before his fresh term as mayor ends in 2025.

“Up to the last drop of my blood, that hospital will rise up when my term will end,” Rama said.

He added, however, that “I cannot be working with people if I cannot share my soul.”

Context

It’s been years since the city started building the new CCMC structure in 2015 after the old hospital building was damaged severely by the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that hit Central Visayas in 2013.

Construction hit several snags, especially after Rama lost the election in 2016.

In 2019, the late mayor Edgardo Labella promised to finish the construction but was only able to complete the first three floors when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Labella was still able to attend the building’s blessing and inauguration before he passed away in late 2021.

At that point, the city spent P566 million for Phase 1 of construction, P300 million for Phase 2, and P100 million for Phase 3.

When Rama was re-elected as mayor in the May 2022 polls, he promised to make the CCMC a priority project.

He is even pushing for it to be one of the specialty hospitals President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. wants across the country.

Lately, business tycoon Manny Pangilinan pledged P100 million to develop a floor at the hospital with naming rights.

“Dili ko muundang pakilimos kung dili mahuman ang poor man’s hospital but with a rich man’s care, love, compassion assured….You should not doubt your mayor,” Rama said. – JMO (FREEMAN)