THREE Manila-based doctors’ groups are eying to put up a state-of-the-art private hospital within an open space in Scout Barrio barangay based on the testimonies gathered by barangay officials and residents.
Scout Barrio village chief Manolo Llaneta said they came to know about the plan to put up a hospital in the football field when a group of doctors allegedly visited the site and the barangay hall informing them of the proposal.
However, he said that from the start, he already informed the group of doctors that the proposed site where the hospital will be reacted is an open space for the barangay which could not be used for the said purpose.
The site has already been noted in the title that it will remain an open space and development in the area will have to pass through the consent of the residents aside from the fact that there is an overwhelming opposition to the proposed project.
Councilor Edgar Avila noted the three groups of Manila-based doctors were accompanied by their counterparts in the city when they conducted separate ocular inspections in the proposed site where they intend to put up a private hospital.
He claimed the proposals of the groups of doctors were merely proposals which have yet to be approved by the state-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
Llaneta informed members of the local legislative body the resolution adopted by the barangay council opposing the hospital project in the open space area of Scout Barrio was furnished Mayor Mauricio Domogan who had earlier sought their stand on the matter so that he will be able to convey to the proponents the stand of the barangay officials and residents on the project.
According to him, the groups of doctors reportedly conducted slight diggings in the site purposely for the supposed soil test to ascertain the carrying capacity of the areas in relation to their proposal to put up a hospital in the open space in the said barangay which is one of the 14 barangays situated within the Camp John |Hay watershed reservation.
Some of the residents who appeared during the local legislative body’s regular session to air their sentiments on the project expressed their vehement opposition to the put up of the hospital in the open space but they conveyed their support to the put up of a hospital within suitable portions of Camp John hay so that they will have easier access to basic health services while some of them expressed their objection to the establishment of a hospital in any part of the former American rest and recreation center.
Concerned residents expressed their opposition to the put up of the hospital in any part of the watershed reservation and claimed the operation of a private medical facility will definitely result to the further depletion of their water supply considering that in the present scenario, they are deprived of abundant water supply considering that the water generated from the reservation is allegedly being supplied to the big establishments with lesser priority given to the residents in Scout Barrio which is in violation of the 19 conditions imposed by the local government for the development of the former American military air station. (PR)