BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, is optimistic that President Rodrigo Duterte will approve the creation of the Bacolod General Hospital, Mayor Evelio “Bing” Leonardia said yesterday.
Leonardia said that Go called Thursday to inform him that the Senate has approved on second reading Senate Bill 1647, authored by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri for the creation of the long awaited city hospital.
Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya filed the counterpart bill in Congress on 2019 and was approved in the lower house on June 2020.
Leonardia said this is good news for Bacolod and that Grupo Progreso had this among its campaign promises in 2019.
He said that “fittingly so, Go, Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio were among those who endorsed the Grupo Progreso candidacies”.
Leonardia added that Go had told him that while it will still pass the Bicameral Committee and third reading in the Senate, he is confident that, given the fact that it already hurdled second reading, the Senate’s final approval is expected.
Leonardia further requested that there is need to maximize the amount for the creation of the hospital to unburden the local finances of the City as eventually, it should operate as a partnership between the Department of Health and the local government unit.
LOT DONORS
He also informed Go that, with this development, the City will seriously pursue prospective lot donors and, in coordination with Gasataya, the city hopes to finalize soon the deed of donation for an appropriate area. There are five lot donors for the possible site of the hospital, located in barangays Mansilingan, Felisa, and Bata, near the boundary of Bacolod and Talisay cities.*