Monday, June 23, 2008 Building projects By Emmanuel “Iman” A. Lat, M.D. Dreams do come true
WE continue in our quest to make dreams come true.
In my May 26 column, I wrote about Social Entrepreneurship and Faculty practice for the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM) and the UP. With the economic crisis in the United States, we all realize that we need to start helping ourselves in the Philippines.
We now have to learn how to fish. To realize Social Entrepreneurship and a Faculty Practice in UP-PGH that will attract medical tourists, we need a decent office building where the physicians can see their patients. We also need a parking building that will allow people to come and go as they please without spending the whole day looking for a parking space.
The UP Medical Alumni Society in America Building Development Project will provide the interest-free loans for UP to construct these buildings.
In January of 2007, in four days of telephone calls, I raised money enough to put up a four-story, walk-up, steel and concrete dormitory for the UP Manila campus. The money came from members of the Phi Kappa Mu fraternity (PKM) and Phi Lambda Delta sorority (PLD) of the UPCM. This is an effort that comes when the role of fraternities and sororities in society are being questioned. This money is now deposited in two Philippine banks.
In return for providing this interest-free loan, the PKM fraternity and PLD sorority will get naming rights to the building. The building will also have a Recognition Gallery which is basically the walls of the building inside bearing the individual names of the contributors.
The problem with this idea of an interest-free loan and naming rights is there is no precedent. There are laws regarding investment ventures that provide for naming rights. Naming rights can be given if 50 percent of the funds are donated. This is only fair since with a business venture, the project may not make money once it is running.
However, 100 percent of the funds have already been provided. Completion of the building is already assured. In a dormitory building with no lending costs, profit is assured with a building that is 100 percent occupied.
Based on a survey, students buy condos in Robinson that costs a lot more for housing. Without this interest-free funding, the dormitory, the faculty medical arts building and the parking building will not be built.
Almost one and a half years have already passed since the money has been raised. This time has been spent, coming with a Terms of Reference that will allow the project to proceed.
This time would be better spent discussing how to make the dormitory building best satisfy the needs of the students:
biometric entry for security, provision of security cameras, wi-fi that will provide adequate coverage for the whole building, 24-hour study room so that students can sleep while their roommates study, adequate ventilation and lighting, strong water pressure, dining place with affordable and nutritious food, etc.
We bring out this project in the media to allow for transparency. We would like everybody concerned to make a comment and let us know if we are doing anything unfair to anybody, if any sector is being taken advantage of, if any law is being violated, etc. because why else is this project taking so long to get started.
We support the UP officials involved in this project: UP president Dr. Emerlinda Roman, UP. Manila chancellor Dr. Ramon Arcadio and UPCM associate Abundio Balgos. They are working hard to come up with the plan to present to the UP board of regents. The UP board of regents will have the final say. We hope they can all make this dream and many more come true.
