SENATOR Joseph Victor Ejercito, trooped to the Philippine Military Academy over the weekend to check on housing needs of cadets and soldiers.
Ejercito, who chairs the committee on housing said the inspection was done at the academy to assess the needs of present cadets as well as housing for soldiers at Fort Del Pilar.
“We want to see the status of cadets and the housing needs there so we can include in the 2018 budget,” added Ejercito.
Ejercito said he wants to alleviate the suffering of cadets and see to it that needs in housing are being met in the Asia’s premier military academy.
The senator was in the city over the weekend to visit the PMA.
“We also want to have proper healthcare for soldiers and possibly mobile clinics for them,” added Ejercito.
Ejercito also heads the committee on health, housing, transportation, and communications in the Senate.
Previously, the senator visited the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) and is working to have 500-bed capacity expanded to 800.
Ejercito, inspected the medical wards where corridors were occupied by patient which firmed the resolve of the senator to expand the bed capacity of the hospital.
“BGH is the first hospital I visited [at the start of my term] and I made a commitment to introduce improvement,” quipped Ejercito.
BGHMC, designated as a referral center of the north, caters to patients from the Cordilleras, the Ilocos Region, and the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Tarlac. Its occupancy rate exceeds its bed capacity given the areas it serves.
In 2016, occupancy was recorded at more than 144 percent.