Council favors retrofitting CCMC over demolition

CEBU, Philippines - Citing the urgency to have a normally-operating city hospital, majority of the City Council members yesterday pushed for the retrofitting of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), as opposed to the construction of a new building.

This was amid the "Piso Mo, Hospital Ko" campaign Mayor Michael Rama launched last Monday to help raise funds for the building of a new hospital after the current structure was declared unsafe following the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Cebu and Bohol last Oct. 15.

The council, whose majority is not allied with Rama, moved for the immediate start of the retrofitting project by asking for a program of work and estimate from City Engineer's Office during an executive session yesterday.

In its regular session last Wednesday, the council called for an executive session and required the attendance of City Engineer Kenneth Enriquez and consultant Ariel Dela Cruz for them to brief the legislative body on their structural assessment of CCMC.

In attendance during yesterday's executive session were Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan-allied City Councilors Margarita Osmena, Gerry Carillo, Sisinio Andales, Roberto Cabarrubias and Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Michael Ralota, while the only Team Rama City Councilor present was Hanz Abella.

Sangguniang Kabataan Federation President John Philip Po, council ex-officio member, arrived shortly after the session started but left before it ended.

The city council stressed that the decision to demolish the CCMC building was only made by Vice President Jejomar Binay and Rama and did not come from state experts.

"With all due to respect to the vice president, we'd like to know the opinion of the engineers who inspected the site and look at this opportunity to maximize what we have. As I understood it from a layman's point of view, with retrofitting, we can strengthen the building and improve the layout," Osmena said, calling retrofitting "practical."

Despite signing the recommendation for retrofitting after an initial inspection with Enriquez, Dela Cruz, a structural engineer, defended the mayor's decision to tear down the CCMC building.

"Based on our observation, yes it can be retrofitted. If we do retrofitting, considering we have a 45 year old building, we can probably extend its life span for about 15 years. But constructing a new one could last for more than that," Dela Cruz said.

He further said that upon inspection, the main column of the CCMC, which was damaged during the earthquake, does not also conform with the latest structural building code of the Philippines.

Both retrofitting and reconstruction, he added, would entail cost and time and that the decision what to resort to would lie with the political leaders and their political will.

Ralota, an architect, said he made his own inspection and assessment of the hospital. Seeing that damage "have not affected the structural integrity of the building", he recommended retrofitting.

Ralota also proposed the use of the second floor of the nearby Citilink Terminal building as doctors and administration offices and presented the leased Bigfoot Studios at the South Road Properties as temporary hospital.

The suggestion came after the ABC president voiced his concern over the current site of the temporary hospital, which is at the Bureau of Fire Protection 7 compound across the CCMC building.

Ralota said the BFP 7 building is not a proper place to house patients. — /RHM (FREEMAN)