Noy, DOJ can save PCMC

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) will be able to stay permanently at the 3.7-hectare property in Quezon City owned by the National Housing Authority (NHA) if President Aquino would issue a proclamation donating the land to the children’s hospital.

Another option is for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue a legal opinion that would uphold a 1992 land swap deal between the Department of Health (DOH) and the NHA.

In a hearing conducted by the Senate committee on health on the contested land, NHA general manager Chito Cruz said the housing agency is ready to donate the land as soon as it gets a legal cover to do so.

“Yes of course,” Cruz said when asked by lawmakers if the NHA would abide and donate the land with finality to PCMC once there is a presidential proclamation.

“So we call on the president to issue a proclamation and donate the land,” Sen. Loren Legarda said during the hearing, receiving cheers and applause from the crowd of doctors and PCMC staff.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chairman  of the committee,  also asked if the NHA would comply with the donation once the DOJ issues an opinion, to which Cruz also said yes.

Guingona said there are now two options – a presidential proclamation and a DOJ opinion.

For the second option, he said he would talk to DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima to expedite the issuance of the legal opinion.

Guingona said the DOJ opinion would uphold a 1992 land swap deal between the DOH and NHA wherein the DOH agreed to swap its Sambag, Cebu property and convey it to NHA in exchange for the PCMC lot.

PCMC director Julius Lecciones said during the hearing that the hospital also needs P4 billion for expansion that would include a new building, equipment and 300 more beds to serve more patients. It has over 60,000 patients yearly, mostly from low-income families.

The PCMC is a government-owned hospital built in 1979 by former first lady Imelda Marcos as the premier tertiary care children’s hospital in the country. The hospital has been occupying the land since 1979 until the NHA said PCMC should purchase the land for P1 billion.