CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City government is working for the release of a partial occupancy permit for the new Cebu City Medical Center building, City Administrator Floro Casas, Jr. assured Tuesday.
Casas said the Office of the Building Official (OBO) has already inspected the building yesterday, a day after it was inaugurated.
A partial occupancy permit, which OBO cannot issue until after inspection, is necessary for the hospital to start operating its Outpatient Department (OPD). Inspection will determine if the hospital is now safe for occupancy, considering that construction work will continue from the fourth to the 10th floor.
The city aims to start operating the first three floors of the building.
The OPD, which is located at the first floor of the CCMC, will start accommodating patients once OBO gives its go signal.
“Ang atong gi-work out karon with OBO is the partial occupancy (permit) for that area only while ato pang gi-ready pud ang second ug ang third floor for its opening sa sunod nga mga semana,” Casas said.
(What we’re working out now with OBO is the partial occupancy permit for that area only while we’re also getting the second and third floors ready for opening in the next few weeks.)
On the day of the inauguration, Architect Florante Catalan, the head of OBO, told The Freeman in an interview that his office has yet to check whether or not the building was ready for occupancy.
“Gabii, after sa inauguration, nag-transfer naman sila sa mga gamit, nag-organize pa sila... Gisabay nalang namo sa ilang pag-transfer ang inspection sa OBO,” Casas said yesterday.
(Last night, after the inauguration, they started moving and organizing things to the hospital so we decided to have OBO inspect the facility at the same time.)
“We’re expecting na mahuman ni today kay ang importante raman nga mohatag og go signal ang OBO. (If) safe ra siya, then we can start accepting patients,” he said.
(We’re expecting the inspection to finish today because what’s important is for OBO to give a go signal. If it’s safe, then we can start accepting patients.)
Casas said it is actually the contractor that’s supposed to apply for an occupancy permit.
“Ang kana man gu’ng occupancy permit, ang mo-apply ana, ang contractor, not ang Cebu City government. I still have to check og unsa na nga mga documents ang ilang gi-submit sa OBO and when (they applied),” Casas said.
(It’s the contractor that’s supposed to apply for an occupancy permit, not the city government. I still have to check which documents they have already submitted to OBO and when they applied for the permit.)
He said the city decided to assist the contractor in processing the permit so it can open the OPD fast.
After the OPD, the operation of the Imaging Department will be the next target.
Casas said another partial occupancy permit will have to be processed before another department can be opened.
“Dili gyud ta makakuha og full occupancy permit, partial-partial lang gyud ta kay if magpaabot gyud ta anang full occupancy, abtan gyud tag siyam-siyam ana. Dili gyud ta makastart dayon, but we need to start gyud somewhere,” said Casas.
(We cannot get a full occupancy permit for now that’s why we’re getting partial permits. We will have to wait for a very long time if we wait for a full occupancy permit. We have to start somewhere.)
Mayor Edgardo Labella earlier said the developments at the hospital will be done gradually.
Labella said the city aims to complete the 10-storey building in 18 months. This is why he needs the support of the City Council as the city would still need P1.3 billion to finish the construction.
When Labella assumed the mayorship in 2019, the city spent P566 million for Phase 1 of construction, P300 million for Phase 2, and P100 million for Phase 3.
The contractors of the project are CE Padilla, BF Garay Construction, and Charlz Construction.
It was Vice Mayor Michael Rama who was mayor in 2014 who ordered the old CCMC building demolished after it incurred massive damage during the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Central Visayas in 2013. Construction of the new CCMC building began in 2015. — JMO (FREEMAN)