Lawmakers appeal to Aquino on behalf of children’s hospital
Leyte Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Children’s Medical Center, which is under threat of eviction, has gotten support from a group of lawmakers who have called on President Benigno Aquino III to donate to the hospital the land it stands on.
A group of independent lawmakers in the House of Representatives, led by Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, have filed a resolution urging the President to issue a presidential proclamation to effect the land donation.
The PCMC earlier received a notice from the National Housing Authority directing it to buy the Quezon City property it has been occupying for nearly 34 years. The property was priced at P1.1 billion, and the hospital felt that this demand amounted to an eviction notice.
In their resolution, the lawmakers noted that the PCMC has long been requesting the national government to donate the land to it or to help finance it so that the hospital would be its registered owner.
They noted that previous presidents had also donated government land to the Office of the Ombudsman and the Court of Tax Appeals, consisting of portions of the 6.3 hectares occupied by the PCMC.
Because of these donations, PCMC’s 6.3 hectares has been reduced to 3.7 hectares.
Donating the land to the PCMC would help it fulfill its mandate as well as support constitutional policies on health, according to the lawmakers. They noted that the hospital treats about 60,000 patients a year, many of them from poor families.
“Pursuant to the constitutional policies of the 1987 Constitution of recognizing the vital role of the youth in nation-building, protecting and promoting the right to health of the people as well as adopting an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which shall endeavor to make health available to all the people at affordable cost wherein the needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women, and children shall be prioritized, the State should donate the land that the hospital presently occupies to the PCMC in order that it can fully fulfill its objectives without the threat of eviction by the NHA,” the legislators said in their resolution.
According to its website, the PCMC is among the government-owned and controlled corporate National Centers for Specialized Health Care, and is mandated to provide pediatric care and training programs, and be a hub for clinical research.
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