QC to put up hospital in District 2 after landslide

MANILA, Philippines - Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista said a well-equipped government hospital will rise in the city’s densely populated District 2.

He said Tuesday’s landslide in Litex, in which nine people died, calls for an immediate establishment of a hospital in the area.

Bautista made this statement after earlier reports said some of the landslide victims were rushed to the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC), which is more than five kilometers away.

“Maybe some of them could have been saved if they had been brought to a hospital near them,” he said.

Bautista said that the construction of a three-story hospital in District 2 will provide better health services to the residents, especially poor families, most of whom live in the district. The city government is eyeing Batasan Hills as the site of the hospital.

The mayor also said he will solicit the assistance of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and senators to ensure funding for the project.

He noted that most of the hospitals and medical establishments like the EAMC, Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and Philippine Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center are located kilometers away from Barangays Batasan Hills, Commonwealth, Bagong Silangan, Payatas, Holy Spirit, Fairview and Greater Lagro, all in District 2.

Bautista also said he welcomes the investigation that will be conducted by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on the recent landslide which claimed nine lives along Litex Road in Barangay Commonwealth during the height of a heavy downpour.

“I welcome this investigation in order for us to determine the people who should be held accountable for this tragedy,” he said.

He also issued a stern warning to barangay officials who are unable to control the influx of informal settler families within their respective areas of jurisdiction.

According to Bautista, DILG Secretary Jessie Robredo has already declared the 7,000-square-meter landslide area as a danger zone and intends to pull out at the soonest possible time families occupying the area to keep them from danger.

The mayor, however, reiterated that the planned resettlement of these families should not be misconstrued as a demolition, but as a rescue effort by the city government.