We will solve CCMC problems, Mary Ann assures

TWO options are being studied by the Cebu City Government to solve the new Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) building’s encroachment on a road lot along Panganiban St.

Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos, whom incoming Mayor Tomas Osmeña has designated as the “mayor” for the project, assured that the construction will be completed despite the delays.

“That project will push through as this is a legacy to the people,” she said in a news conference in her office yesterday afternoon.

Civil works for the project have been temporarily stopped since last week because it doesn’t have a building permit yet. Processing of the permit has also been suspended until the encroachment is addressed.

Office of the Building Official (OBO) officer-in-charge Engr. Josefa Ylanan said there are two options to solve the problem.

One is to remove the parts of the building that encroached on the road lot. This will affect nine columns that have already been installed by the contractor. These form part of the structural frame of the 10-storey hospital.

“If we do that, there will be amenities from the hospital that will be removed. It will render the whole design for the new hospital ineffective,” she said.

Based on the survey they conducted, Ylanan said the nine columns will be affected once Panganiban St. gets widened by 2.4 meters.

An ordinance that established Panganiban St. allows the existing 10-meter road to be widened by 10 meters. But the area supposed to be used for widening has been included in the footprint of the new CCMC building.

Delos Santos said the building is already there and the City has already spent for those columns.

The other option then, Ylanan said, once Panganiban St. is widened, is to just use a portion of the property of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) compound, located across the hospital lot.

“Morag ato lang gisibog ang dan ba (It would be like moving the road),” she added.

The decision on what option to pursue will be up to delos Santos and the mayor.

Asked when the work on CCMC can resume, delos Santos said yesterday she doesn’t want to set a deadline.

Ylanan added there are still other requirements that need to be complied with, such as the architect’s submission of complete electrical and mechanical plans for the building. These were submitted by Architect Miko Espina yesterday afternoon.

OBO also learned that the CCMC construction doesn’t have a barangay permit yet from Barangay Pahina San Nicolas.

“We will only lift the suspension once all requirements are met,” she said.

Delos Santos said she supports the temporary suspension of work on the project.

“All these things are legitimate concerns. It is very unthinkable to continue on the project without going through the basic processes. So we have to start everything right. It is just but prudent, bahala’g ma-delay gamay (even if it causes delays). Basta we will assure the public that the hospital will rise,” she said.

The incoming administration, delos Santos said, is supportive about providing better health care services to the public.

Asked if there will be sanctions imposed on the contractor for failing to meet all the requirements, delos Santos said that the incoming mayor has weighed the idea of possibly suing them.

“But I told him, ‘Just give me a chance to correct this’. We are here to problem-solve,” she said.

Mayor Osmeña reportedly agreed.

The construction of the new CCMC hospital started in July last year and is supposed to be finished in April 2017.

The City Government began building a new hospital after the old CCMC building was demolished. It had been declared too dangerous to occupy after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake damaged the building in October 2013.