Sale of NCMH property deferred

Succumbing to the pressure of protesting employees of the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH), President Arroyo has ordered the "indefinite postponement," of the sale of the Welfareville property in Mandaluyong City where the hospital sits.

But NCMH employees were not content with the postponement as they pushed yesterday for the total scrapping of the planned sale.

"We are not really very happy with what’s going on. We feel that NCMH should be retained. It’s already like a heritage in our country and it’s serving a group of people who have been forgotten by the society," said Dr. Norma Lazaro, head of NCMH’s Adult Services.

Lazaro noted that the deferment only "prolongs our agony because moves to bid out the property can always be revived by the government whenever it feels like doing so."

"What we want is for the President to help us lobby for a repeal of the law that mandates the sale of NCMH. When the hospital is sold, we can expect more ‘taong grasa’ to roam our streets because there will be not enough facilities to take care of our patients," she added.

According to Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, the President wanted the sale of Welfareville’s Parcel 1 lot "deferred" until all issues concerning displacement of the squatters and NCMH employees and patients are resolved.

"We have to make sure first that socialized housing is well in place and that there will be an orderly transfer of the NCMH and the Correctional Institute for Women before we can proceed with the sale of Parcel 1," she said in a joint press conference with Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit and Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is bidding out the Welfareville property by virtue of Republic Act 5260 and Presidential Decree 1541 that were approved during the Marcos administration.

Welfareville is divided into 71-hectare Parcel 1 where the NCMH and Correctional are situated and 29-hectare Parcel 2 is occupied by around 18,000 squatter-families.

The sale is in fulfillment of the Philippine government’s agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund and World Health Organization. The proceeds of the transaction will be used by the DSWD to finance pro-children programs and projects.

Soliman noted that there have been three attempts in the past to bid out Welfareville property but these did not push through because of the presence of squatters in the area.

Mrs. Arroyo decided to temporarily shelve the bidding of Parcel 1 because of the representation made by Dayrit, Abalos and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales Jr., as well as the clamor of NCMH employees.

Soliman added that Parcel 1 can be bidded out only after Parcel 2 had been sold for socialized housing and after an orderly transfer of NCMH personnel and patients to the psychiatric facilities in regional medical centers have been put in place.

For his part, Abalos said that the city government of Mandaluyong will participate in the bidding for Parcel 2 so it could developed the area into a low-cost housing for squatters.

But Abalos maintained that they would first get rid of professional squatters to ensure that only the qualified ones will benefit from the program. The city government had earmarked P1 billion for the project.

Soliman added that interested bidders for Parcel 2 can submit their proposal in Jan. 5, 2004.

"We’ll fast track (the bidding) for Parcel 2 and the terms of reference for the property will be used only for socialized housing. Other than that, we won’t accept," she maintained.