ILOILO – The main building of the San Joaquin Mother and Child Hospital remains a government property, insisted the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) during a joint committee hearing on Thursday morning addressing concerns over the hospital building located in Barangay Purok 5, San Joaquin, Iloilo.
The Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) has not abandoned the building, as clarified during the hearing. An allocated budget of P15 million for this year is set for improvements to the building and its services.
The family donor of the lot where the hospital building stands wants to take the lot back, pointing out the condition in the deed of donation that if the lot is not anymore being used for hospital services, the family may repossess it.
Atty. Jinky Cope, legal counsel for WVMC, explained that the neglect of the hospital building in the past years was only temporary, mainly due to the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are offering our services again because this is the only way to strengthen Universal Health Services and related projects of the Department of Health,” Cope stated.
Cope further mentioned the importance of continuing the health services offered at the main building, such as x-ray and laboratory services.
Cope also highlighted the potential risks of not settling the land dispute sooner, as it might deter the Department of Health from further investing in the building’s improvements.
“Ma-invest kami da karon tapos ano? Awayan? So,daw counter-productive bala,” Cope said.
The lot donor, the Getuya family, also attended yesterday the committee hearing, represented by Vilma Getuya.
Cope expressed hope that the legal representatives of the Getuya family and Vice Mayor Marviegrace Getuya-Lago would consider WVMC’s position on developing the property for the public’s benefit.
Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Getuya-Lago defended her mother’s recent actions, such as placing cyclone wires and “no trespassing” signs around the hospital building, as a protective response to unauthorized individuals frequenting the site.
She also insisted that any negotiations should involve only authorized WVMC personnel and not anyone from the local government unit (LGU) of San Joaquin that were not a party to the Getuya lot donation.
The hearing was jointly conducted by the SP Committee on Health and Sanitation, Committee on Public Order and Security and Justice, and the Committee on Human Rights and Good Government./PN
