This is not a game of Charades or “sounds like” but rather a suggestion on how to possibly address two problems at the same time. All through the year 2026, Filipinos have been told that there is a glut or over supply of condominium units in the Philippines.
The latest numbers available online say that there are “nearly 80,000 to 81,000 unsold, unoccupied or untouched condo units in Metro Manila alone. About 32,000 units are RFO or Ready For Occupancy while over 40,000+ remain under construction.”
At the same time, millions of middle class to poor Filipinos who make it to hospitals often can’t get hospitalized because of congestion and severe lack of beds and rooms. There was a time when being in a ward meant there would be four patients sharing a room.
But today, if you actually get admitted in a public hospital, that often means six to even eight patients sharing a room or having a bed outside the ward, where you lie in the corridor watching the world pass you by.
Many ordinary Filipinos consider themselves lucky to get a bed upon admission. I know of two friends who tried going to public hospitals, had to sit in the Emergency Room and waited for eight to 10 hours until each of them gave up on ever getting a bed and went to a private hospital.
Unlike shifting your children from private school to public school, the migration of middle to lower class Filipinos from private hospitals to public hospitals, based on other people’s experience, is both difficult and desperate.
In the meantime, we constantly hear analysts, realtors and economists talk about the negative impact of having 80,000 to 81,000 unsold condo units and how capital is tied up.
But how difficult could it be for condominium developers to sit down with the DOH, the Office of the President, etc. to study the possibility of transitioning the unsold condominium units into condospitals (condo-hospitals) or hospitels (hospital-hotels)?
I got the idea from friends who go to Thailand and Cambodia for their annual or optional medical procedures. The first one, who is European, goes to Thailand, checks in at a hospital for procedures then transfer to a nearby hotel for her recovery.
Our other friends, a Filipino couple, bundle all their medical tests, procedures and also checks in at a local hotel. Essentially this is what medical tourism is all about.
I had a chance to look into a similar set up in a retirement home in the Netherlands many years back. The facility was built more like a hostel, had a cafeteria as well as basic medical facilities and equipment for emergencies. Beyond that, there was a nearby hospital.
Given the oversupply of condominium units, developers and the government might as well undertake a serious study on the feasibility of converting said condos into hospital-like accommodations, not necessarily for the poorest of the poor.
I have talked to so many middle and lower class Filipinos who have all expressed willingness to pay for a room and a bed in a government hospital, but it appears that public hospitals are either not allowed to accept paying patients or simply have no rooms.
A non-performing asset such as 81,000 condo units that has been stuck for a year and is likely to stay stuck for another three years, is not just going nowhere but is costing the developer more money annually through cost of money, interest payments, maintenance and overhead.
Failing to sell them, you can either dump them at a major discount with risk takers or investors who have “male-maletas” or suitcases full of cash. But why not convert them to hospital/hotel facilities? The property (land) value remains or grows, while the units can be used by a captured market.
In a way, the idea could be more profitable compared to renting out offices to call centers and BPOs, creates lots of jobs all around and, most importantly, helps reduce the severe shortage of hospital rooms and beds.
Instead of waiting for buyers in an uncertain economy, instead of waiting for tourists to come in, why not address the long standing need of patients that daily pray for a bed, a room in a hospital?
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For decades now, the government has required couples who intend to get married to undergo a family planning seminar.
I believe the intention was to equip young couples with important information to guide them and protect the health of women relative to frequent pregnancies and childbirth. Spacing and number of children also impact the family’s finances and care for children.
I fully support the requirement for family planning seminars but to be quite honest about it, the program or policy needs to be revisited if not overhauled, the reason being it comes too late and achieves too little.
I have lost count of couples attending the family planning seminar where the woman is already a few months pregnant! The seminar should be before the pregnancy, not during!
Why not teach the seminar in school or make it online and then give a written exam like they do for drivers’ licenses? Girls in private high schools already learn much of the stuff during their Biology classes anyway.
Last but not least, LGUs really need to promote and educate the public about the requirement instead of making it an afterthought.
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