Dakay Construction and Development Corp. requested to pause Phase 5 construction of the Cebu City Medical Center after discovering substandard work and unresolved contracts from earlier phases.
Mayor Nestor Archival previously set a target completion date of December 2026, but additional testing, legal hurdles, and P403.41 million in estimated structural deficiencies have put the schedule at risk.
The City Council is seeking an executive session with stakeholders—including Dakay Construction, the Department of Engineering and Public Works, and the Commission on Audit—to resolve the issues.
EFFORTS to finish the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) have hit another roadblock, putting the target completion date in jeopardy. The current contractor has requested to pause construction after discovering substandard work from earlier phases of the project.
New construction paused
Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak, chairman of the committee on health, shared details about the delay during an interview on Wednesday, Sept. 9. He explained that contracts for Phases 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the project were never properly terminated.
Because of these unresolved issues, Dakay Construction and Development Corp. has not started civil works for Phase 5. The contractor is moving carefully and has requested a formal suspension of its work until technical and legal problems are resolved.
Deadlines at risk
Mayor Nestor Archival has repeatedly set December 2026 as the target date to complete the building. The plan was to officially open the hospital for patient care in early 2027.
When Phase 5 resumed in February, officials reconfirmed that December target. However, Archival later admitted that additional testing and documentation of defective work were slowing things down. While the project received a 45-day extension in July, Archival maintained that the end-of-year goal remained unchanged.
Contract and substandard work issues
The latest trouble involves physical damage to the structure as well as contract confusion. Documents provided by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) showed that earlier contracts were not properly ended.
Dakay raised concerns in a letter to Archival, noting that existing installations were substandard and did not match current project designs.
“So how can Dakay proceed when the terms of reference, program of works and estimates do not match the actual condition of the project left by the previous contractors?” Tumulak asked.
The Phase 5 contract awarded to Dakay in 2025 is valued at P683.94 million. Additionally, the Cebu City Government set aside P500 million under Supplemental Budget 1 to help finish the building.
Multi-Million deficiencies discovered
Phase 5 was meant to complete the fourth to seventh floors. However, fixing older mistakes on the lower floors will be expensive.
A team of 25 volunteer engineers and architects estimated it will take P403.41 million to correct structural deficiencies found from the ground floor to the third floor. They also discovered that previous contractors had separate agreements with overlapping scopes of work, making it hard to assign clear blame.
According to a proposed City Council resolution, the original contracts for Phases 1 through 4 totaled P1.842 billion. As of July 1, 2025, actual payments made to those contractors reached P967.37 million.
Among the major physical problems is the hospital's busduct system, which will cost between P24 million and P30 million to fix. Dakay reported that while workers and equipment are ready, mechanical and electrical tasks cannot safely start due to the defective installations.
Archival confirmed in July that substandard parts must undergo testing and possible removal in coordination with the Department of Health and the Commission on Audit (COA).
Searching for solutions
Councilor Tumulak emphasized that the city must resolve these issues without exposing taxpayers to further financial or legal risk.
To find a solution, the City Council is seeking an executive session with key stakeholders, including:
The Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW)
Dakay Construction
The Architects and Volunteers Group, represented by engineer Raul Lucero
The Commission on Audit (COA)
Leaders plan to review the previous contracts, address overlapping work, and decide if earlier agreements must be formally canceled. They will also discuss whether to await COA recommendations or issue a variation order to fix the defects.
Until these complicated issues are sorted out, Phase 5 remains on hold, leaving the future of the hospital's planned 2027 opening uncertain. (CAV)