by Raadee Sausa April 18, 2021 Quezon Gov. Danilo Suarez (Photo from his FB Page) ...
April 18, 2021
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| Quezon Gov. Danilo Suarez (Photo from his FB Page) |
LUCENA CITY - After the Quezon Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) disapproved of the 2021 budget, the provincial governor called it "a political suicide."
Gov. Danilo Suarez said in his earlier speech that "this is a political suicide, you will be unpopular. It will not gain you anything except insulting."
Suarez is reffering to the members of SP who favored to disapproved of the 2021 budget.
However, the governor said that he won't let the province down, "I will not fail the province."
Earlier, 4th District Bocal Sonny Ubana and some of his colleagues have disapproved 2021 budget for the province because of the lump sum.
The controversial Quezon Medical Center (QMC) budget is among several issues the SP is hard-pressed in rushing the approval of the provincial annual budget for 2021 amounting to P3.8 billion in order to avoid a reenacted budget of the past year.
Moreover, the Quezon Sangguniang Panglalawigan Special Committee (SPSC), earlier, tasked to deliberate and process the provincial annual budget of the provincial government of Quezon for 2021.
The Local Finance Committee composed of provincial treasurer Rosario Manzano Uy, provl accountant Evangelina Ong and assistant provincial budget officer Jerry Micor for proposing to transfer the annual budget of the Quezon Medical Center (QMC) from the Economic Enterprise to the provincial General Fund of the annual budget for 2021.
Uban and his colleague Angelo Eduarte criticized Uy, Ong and Micor for shifting the QMC budget from the Economic Enterprise to the General Fund which they said clearly violates the provincial ordinance on the creation of Economic Enterprise Units that covers QMC, the province’ hospitals in various municipalities and the Quezon Convention Center (QCC).
“Did you unilaterally transfer or did you seek approval of the Sangunian Panglalawigan to amend the existing ordinance regarding Economic Enterprise in the province?” Ubana asked the three members of the Local Finance Committee.
Eduarte first noticed in the proposed budget document submitted by the LFC to SP that only the budgets for Gumaca and Magsaysay hospitals have remained in the Economic Enterprise Unit while the QMC budget is included in the provincial General Fund.
“Wag naman pangunahan ang kabayo ng kalesa, dapat daanin ninyo sa legal na paraan ang inyong ginagawa,” Eduarte told Uy, Ong and Micor stressing that QMC budget is categorized as Economic Enterprise as provided in the provincial ordinance passed since the administration of former provincial governor Wilfrido Enverga.
Ubana said that the SP cannot violate their own provincial ordinance so they cannot approve the QMC budget to be shifted to the general fund and it has to be deleted from the provincial annual budget for 2021.
The said provincial ordinance provides for the creation of Economic Enterprise Units (EEU) that included the provincial public hospitals, and the QCC, also built during Enverga’s time. The EEUs are mandated to be self-sustaining economic enterprises in the delivery of social services to the constituents of the province.
Micor said that they are proposing that the QMC budget be included in the general fund because of the Covid19 pandemic.
Uy, fully covered with face mask, face shield, and hat during the committee hearing, said that the QMC has been operating at a massive loss in operation since 2016 and it is being subsidized by the provincial government at hundreds of millions of pesos to sustain its operation for the medical needs and services to thousands of patients from all over the province.
She disclosed that in 2016, QMC has earned only about P119 million but spent over P259 million so it has been subsidized by the provincial government by over P141 million. Last year, when the Covid19 pandemic broke out, QMC has spent about P560 million in the operation, collected only about P129 million, and subsidized by the provincial government by over P372.5 million.
The LFC members said that swelling number of patients and the "no balance billing" are the main reason why QMC is always at an operating loss.
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