“ODH turn over to the city is dead” –Beboy - City Government of Ormoc

Mayor Beboy
Codilla and Gov.
Icot Petilla in a
huddle.
Perspective
of the proposed
Ormoc City
Hospital.
ODH TURN OVER IS DEAD from p. 1
Mayor Codilla said that the ODH
issue is the most “in” topic at the
moment after Lake Danao turnover,
with the local opposition trying to
block it hoping that it will destroy the
credibility of his administration. Mayor
Codilla stressed that he met with Gov.
Petilla at the Provincial Capitol three
weeks ago, at which time the governor
himself confirmed that the proposal has
been denied.
Opposition rah rah
Mayor Codilla disclosed during
the forum that the city was originally
planning to construct its own hospital.
But his political opponents questioned
this, asking why the city had to build
a hospital when the ODH is there and
Gov. Petilla was willing to turn over
its management to the LGU. Mayor
Codilla pointed out that the opposition
faulted the city because they were not
aware that he had already spoken
Bebeng Causes P4-M from p. 1
with Gov. Petilla about it in 2004, but
that the governor backtracked. Last
Jan 14, 2011 Mayor Codilla and Gov.
Petilla had a chance to again talk
about the city’s plan to construct a
new hospital. Gov. Petilla’s reaction
was to say that he would close the
ODH once the city hospital became
operational. The mayor’s proposal
for the province to turn the ODH over
to the city was thus born.
Governor Petilla actually
welcomed the mayor’s proposal, and
both agreed to create a high level
team to negotiate and arrange the
terms of the proposed transfer. The
initial discussion between the city
and provincial teams was made last
Feb. 9 before the mayor’s State of the
City Address. As it happened, local
political opponents made sure to
block the turnover of the ODH to the
city by creating all the scenarios that
eventually discouraged the governor.
You’re in bad faith
if you close the ODH!
Mayor Codilla, upon realizing
that the negotiation for the turnover
have failed, is reconsidering the
first option, which is to build a
city hospital. But prior to that he
made the confirmation with the
governor and found out that one
of the reasons for the governor’s
backtracking is the timeline for
the transition period. Gov. Petilla
insisted on at least two to three
years transition period while Mayor
Codilla wanted six months for the
simple reason that both of them
will no longer be public officials by
2014. He explained that he wants
the transition to be completed in six
months so that by 2012 ODH will be
under the management of the city.
Mayor Codilla emphasized that
he was left with no choice except
to go back to the original plan of
building a city hospital. The mayor on
the other hand requested the governor
not to close ODH because it would
put Gov. Petilla in bad light. “Dili na
na tinarong ang imo.”
The governor, according to
Mayor Codilla, said that most of
the mayors were apprehensive with
the planned turnover. So were the
ODH employees. But the mayor
assured the employees if there will
be a turnover they will be transferred
to other hospitals owned by the
province. Retirement packages are
also being prepared for employees
who choose retirement over transfer.
A big possibility of being hired by
LGU- Ormoc is also offered by the
mayor because once the hospital
becomes operational it will need staff
and personnel.
Possible locations for the new
city hospital are Brgy. San Pablo,
Brgy. Ipil and the government land
located beside the new city hall. The
city will start with P40 million for the
construction of the hospital that will
start this year after the requirements
are complied with.
Lao, on the other hand, had
P260,000.00, P120,000.00 and
P525,000.00 for these same crops.
The entire Brgy. Lao, including its
19.5 hectares of agricultural lands,
was under water, with some 250
families affected.
Heavy downpour on Friday
evening kept Ormocanos on alert
status. The rains continued until
early Saturday. At around 7AM,
city officials started receiving
text messages and phone calls
from barangay officials and some
concerned citizens reporting rising
waters and overflowing drainages.
Water levels along the Malbasag
and Anilao rivers also rose, although
only up to the first level platform of
the JICA dikes. Drainage systems
in the city also started to overflow,
particularly in ODH and Aunubing
St. where waters were knee-deep.
A flood warning advisory was aired
via the city-paid program of DYRR,
prompting residents especially
along the coastlines and floodprone
barangays to start taking
precautionary measures. Rescue
teams were activated while DPWH
personnel also started clearing the
streets.
At around 9AM of Saturday,
City Mayor Eric Codilla personally
called an emergency meeting with
the city councilors, department heads
and DPWH 4th LED personnel at the
mayor’s conference room to assess
the situation and activate rescue and
relief operations to affected barangays.
Mayor Codilla then designated City
Community Affairs Office Ben Matiga
as overall incident commander to
coordinate all activities.
Together with the rescue groups
coming from the Ormoc City Police
Command under PNP City Director
Nilo D. Donayre, 802nd Infantry
Battalion based in Camp Downes
and the 8th RCDG ARESCOM, the
ORMOC Rescue Team responded to
calls for assistance.
At around 10AM, the OCPO
and Police Station 1 rescue groups
together with some personnel from
the 802nd Infantry Brigade assisted
the evacuation of six (6) families in
Purok Rosal, Brgy. Dist. 29 after a
minor landslide at the hilly portion
facing the left bank of the JICA
dike in Malbasag. The families were
evacuated to Brgy. Alta Vista.
Other barangays severely
affected were RM Tan, San Juan,
Guintigui-an and Leondoni, which
accumulated about 2M worth of
damage to rice, corn and vegetables.
Brgy. San Isidro reported 30
evacuees after waters in Sitio Lutao
reached about six feet deep. Eightythree
families in Brgy. Mas-in were
relocated to the brgy. chapel while
46 and 33 families in Bagong Buhay
and Linao were evacuated to Bagong
Buhay Elementary School and the
Linao 3-in-1 building, respectively.
Overall, Tropical Depression
Bebeng left damage of about
P781,400.00 in rice, P726,250.00 in
corn and P3,302,500.00 in vegetables
in 20 barangays in the city. It also
displaced around 900 families.
Rescue operations of the LGU were
called off at 9PM on the same day
when rains stopped and the started to
subside. Most evacuees have returned
to their homes and basic lifelines
were generally restored by Sunday.
No casualties and missing persons
were reported.
4
Ang
Ormocanon
www.ormoc.gov.ph