By Dolly Yasa
BACOLOD City – “The long wait is over.”
Thus said Bacolod Rep Greg Gasataya on the Senate’s final approval of the bill establishing the Bacolod General Hospital.
“The long wait is over, isa ka daku nga blessing para sa mga Bacolodnon,” Gasataya said in a statement.
He said the bill was unanimously approved 23-0.
Senate Majority Juan Miguel Zubiri is primary author of the said bill in the Senate while Gasataya authored the House of Representatives version.
Gasataya recalled that he first filed the bill during his first term in the 17th Congress and refiled it last July 1, 2019 during his second term.
He said he is thankful to all members of the Senate under the leadership of Senate President Tito Sotto, Zubiri, Health Committee chairperson Senator Bong Go, Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon, his colleagues in the House, the Department of Health, as well as the city officials headed by Mayor Evelio Leonardia, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and members of the city council.
Zubiri earlier said he hopes that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signs the bill into law before the President’s State of the Nation Address in July this year.
One amendment to the bill is the allocation of P600 million for the construction of the hospital under the 2022 General Appropriation Act, specifically the Health Facilities Enhancement Program of the Department of Health.
Zubiri said the establishment of the Bacolod General Hospital will also decongest the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital which caters to residents outside Bacolod.
