Council urges Garcia: Halt CCMC rebidding

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council last Wednesday urged Acting Mayor Raymond Garcia to temporarily halt the rebidding of the construction of Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), following questions raised on funding transparency.

This came about after Councilor Mary Ann de los Santos delivered a privilege speech during their regular session after hearing Garcia declare the continuation of the CCMC construction.

She urged Garcia to “put on hold his plans of using the savings of P700 million to venture into another bidding process until everything about CCMC construction will be well explained.”

“I would like to caution Acting Mayor Garcia that the root cause of the problem of CCMC (remaining unfinished) is the disregard of rules, process, preparations, implementation, and monitoring of the project,” she said.

Acting on her concerns, the City Council instructed that the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) to submit a comprehensive accomplishment report on the initial construction way back in 2015, and the phases construction underwent.

The council also requested the City Budget Office to submit a complete detailed accounting of the funds spent by the city for the CCMC construction, including the funds from various donors.

It likewise set an executive session for July 24 with DEPW and Dr. Peter Mancao, CCMC medical director and Cebu Medical Society representative. The council initially wanted to also invite Mayor Michael Rama, who is currently serving a six-month preventive suspension, but decided to do it “some other time.”

In her speech, de los Santos narrated the history of the construction, saying she knows because he was “deeply involved” starting from its conceptualization.

She said construction began in 2015, a year after the old CCMC building was declared structurally unsound following a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Cebu City in October 2013.

De los Santos said P600 million was set aside for first phase, which was awarded to Manila-based contractor CE Padilla Construction, which bid P514.97 million to construction the hospital’s foundation and 10 floors and assured to do so in one year and nine months.

But in December 2016, then Acting Mayor Margot Osmeña ordered the suspension of the construction work of the new CCMC, after it was found out that the building has no building, mechanical, and electrical permits as well as a barangay clearance.

“In the same year in 2016, when Mayor Tommy Osmeña assumed as mayor he said if only to prevent from incurring further delays, he would rather stick it out with the current contractor task to finish the new CCMC than look for another,” said de los Santos

“He told the reporters even if the contactors incurred a 23-percent slippage, he will not terminate the contract of CE Padilla Construction since canceling the construction of the CCMC because of the slippage incurred will only result only into more delays,” she added.

She said that in 2017, an additional budget of P300 million for the CCMC construction was proposed; in 2019, then newly elected Mayor Edgardo Labella directed that the City fast-track the CCMC construction; and in 2020, then Vice Mayor Rama asked the city executive department to temporarily put on hold the bidding for the P500-million budget for the CCMC.

After Manila-based contractor M.E. Sicat Construction won the contract to finish the hospital structure, the contract was also terminated due to delays in the construction/

De los Santos also asked if payment had been consummated when Cebu City Administrator Collin Rosell and the contractor reached a gentleman’s agreement to mutually terminate the contract for the hospital's construction last November 16, 2023.

She also mentioned that private companies and individuals have pledged a total of almost P1 billion for the CCMC construction, as a result of the fundraising campaign of Mayor Rama, with the amount to be coursed through the Cebu Medical Society for transparency.

De los Santos said that although the funding came from private individuals and companies, the initiative came from the Cebu City Government.

Last June 21, Garcia said he will create a task force that will oversee the completion of the CCMC in six months, prompting de los Santos to deliver the privilege speech.

During the discussion, City Councilor Jerry Guardo explained that the P700 million would be utilized for the completion of a portion of the third floor, fourth floor up to a portion of the seventh floor. - /RHM (FREEMAN)