4 years after quake destroyed hospital not replaced yet

LOON, BOHOL, Philippines —Residents of Loon town in Bohol are now wondering why no new hospital was being constructed to replace the one totally destroyed during the devastating earthquake on October 15, 2013.

The wrecked hospital building of the Cong. Natalio Castillo Memorial Hospital—located at Barangay Basak of Loon—is one of those devolved, managed and funded by the provincial government, while the new one was supposed to be constructed at Barangay Canhangdon Occidental.

A resident and a barangay official, whose identities are withheld however, confirmed this "no construction" situation in an interview with The Freeman last week.

They said that the delay in the construction of a new hospital building, to replace the one destroyed by the quake, was due to the reported dispute over right-of-way for access road from the highway to the site.

The resident said he learned that the government has not yet paid the owners of the lot where supposed access road would traverse.

A notice printed in tarpaulin, mounted at the front of the planned access road says: “A priority project of the Department of Health, the provincial government of Bohol and local government unit of Loon.”

The construction of the new hospital is worth P80 million from the DOH Earthquake Fund, with the Bohol provincial government as implementing agency. The groundbreaking for the project actually took place sometime in January this year, the notice says.

The site where the new hospital is to be constructed is about 200 meters to where the access road starts. It is being fenced by G.I. sheets, but The Freeman, in its recent visit to the area, saw a couple of cows grazing there.

Earlier, former governor, lawyer Victor de la Serna, in his radio program, bared that no new hospital building is being constructed in this town after the magnitude-7.2 quake devastation.

The Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB) of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recommended that no new structures shall be built within the site, where the damaged hospital is located, due to shattered foundation of the area, as result of the quake.

This reportedly prompted the administration of Governor Edgar Chatto to look for another site for the construction of the new hospital building.

The provincial government also owns and manages the following health service facilities: Cong. Simeon Toribio District Hospital in Carmen town; Jagna District Hospital; Catigbian District Hospital; Maribojoc Community Hospital; Clarin Community Hospital; Francisco Dagohoy Memorial Hospital in Inabanga town; Candijay Community Hospital in Pres. Carlos P. Garcia (Pitogo) town, and the Talibon Garcia Hospital, which is also designated as the provincial hospital.