CEBU PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES & SOME BRAGGING RIGHTS

FOUR PERSONS RIDING tandem on a motorcycle met a timely vehicular accident at the highway of Looc, Oslob, Cebu on the afternoon of December 1, 2007. All suffered serious physical injuries and were all brought to the Oslob District Hospital for their initial medication and first aid.

There was only one municipal ambulance and one government nurse on duty at the hospital attending the patients. One of the patient, a woman in her 40s, was decided to be brought to a hospital in far-away Cebu City due to the severity of her injuries.

While en route, the woman died at the vicinity of the town of Dalaguete. According to a relative accompanying her in the ambulance, the patient was left to fend for herself while being transported and a bottle of oxygen, which would have sustained the patient's survival chances, was left unused owing to the absence of a competent medical personnel in the ambulance.

I could not comprehend, however, the Cebu Provincial Government, awash with so much cash that it spent almost Php1.2B to erect a ghastly monument of corruption, the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), which they hurriedly finished in time for the hosting of the 13th ASEAN Summit last December 2006; being not able to hire enough health personnel to complement their district hospitals throughout the province.

I don't know where lies the priority of the lady governor, Ms. Gwendolyn Garcia, who seemed to brag and lash about at anybody who dared criticize her showcase -- the controversial CICC. Engr. Cris Saavedra and Mr. Leo Lastimosa where some of the few who dared to remark and challenged her openly in print and broadcast media and took the brunt of her ire by suing them in court.

CICC is a high profile project that stank of controversies apart from its astronomical budget. Said edifice allegedly used substandard materials in its construction. Prices were allegedly rigged to accommodate cheap and low-end equipment for its operations which resulted to breakdowns on their airconditioning units, door locks, escalators, toilet bowls, etc. Don't forget about the leaking roofs – it's highly documented!

In the meantime, a woman died because the provincial government could not afford to hire additional medical doctors and nurses and complementary personnel to man their hospitals. It had not been the first case of neglect and this neglect would continue as long as this current leadership knows where to place those priorities that are more urgent and remedy the situation quickly than just sitting on their laurels after snaring their bragging rights!

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