Power supply to BFP 7 bldg. may be cut off

Sunstar Cebu
By Razel V. Cuizon
Monday, May 12, 2014

SERVICES at the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) might be interrupted soon if the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) 7 fails to pay the electricity consumption of its complex on N. Bacalso Ave. of P1.8 million.

The Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) sent BFP 7 a 24-hour notice of disconnection that the fire department received on Apr. 28. The bill covers electricity consumption since October last year.

CCMC moved its facilities and patients to the BFP 7 complex after because the city hospital building was declared unsafe due to structural damage caused by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Oct. 15, 2013.

“We will do everything to prevent the (power) disconnection since the services will be affected, said CCMC ad hoc committee chairperson Mary Ann de los Santos, also a Cebu City councilor. She said many patients at CCMC are dependent on life support machines that are powered by electricity.

Dr. Gloria Duterte, CCMC chief, said she told BFP in a letter that the hospital administration will pay for electricity it consumed.

Breakdown

“The hospital is very much willing to comply with our obligations and pay the electricity and water consumption,” the letter reads.

Sr. Insp. Noel Ababon, chief of the budget management section of BFP 7, said he sent Duterte a breakdown of the bill specifying the CCMC’s share.

Ababon said that since the BFP 7 is only occupying one-third of the compound, it will only pay a third of the bill or about P600,000.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he will talk to Veco and ask for reconsideration.
Ababon said that before CCMC moved to the BFP 7 compound, the bureau’s electricity consumption bill was only about P200,000 a month.

The City Government is working on having a separate Veco meter installed for CCMC.

The City had the old CCMC building on N. Bacalso Ave. demolished to pave the way for the construction of a new city hospital. source

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on May 13, 2014.