Redefining Services: Capitol Breaks Ground of Modern Edifice

Aimed at further improving the Capitol’s services, Gov. Hilario P. Davide III and Vice Gov. Agnes A. Magpale on Monday, Feb. 18, led the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a modern edifice inside the Capitol compound that will serve as a new home for various frontline offices of the Cebu Provincial Government and National Government line agencies.

Called the Resource Center, the 20-storey building is expected to be completed within three years.

With the increase of Capitol employees through the years, now at 3,700 personnel, and the destruction of the Baex building during the 2013 earthquake, which used to house offices of several National Government agencies, the demand for more space has become a necessity.

Amid the balking at the construction of the 20-storey edifice by some quarters, Davide assured the Cebuanos that his administration complied with all the guidelines set by law.

“Ang mga wa kauyon nato mangita gyud og paagi, but I am confident that I can answer these things kay nisubay ta sa balaod. Wa tay angay kabalak-an,” he said.

For her part, Magpale said she cannot blame the Cebuanos for becoming suspicious considering they had seen government projects in the past that were overpriced and substandard.

“We have seen buildings that did not withstand earthquakes and typhoons,” Magpale said.

She said every leader wants to do something for the good of the Cebuanos, and she pointed out that Davide has no track record of graft and corruption practices.

“Have you heard of an overpriced building, a substandard building nga nahimo sa administrasyon ni Gob. Junjun Davide? I cannot blame the Cebuanos because I have seen it all, projects that have been built substandard costing almost a billion pesos,” she said.

As to the issue that the height of the Resource Center will ruin the view of the Capitol, Magpale said, “Look at the CFI building inside the Capitol compound, there was not a whimper when this one was built.”

Despite pursuing the Resource Center, which costs P1.289 billion, she said the administration’s priority projects underlined in the Six-Key Development Agenda were not left behind.

From 2017 to 2018, the Cebu Provincial Government has constructed 88 classrooms across the province.

More than P500 million was spent by Capitol for infrastructure projects, most of them in the countryside from 2016 to 2018. These include road concreting and improvement projects, technical and vocational centers, trading posts, material recovery facilities, evacuation and multi-purpose centers, water systems, improvement of municipal and barangay edifices, barangay bridges, health and daycare centers, among others.

Image source: Cebu Provincial Gov’t

Just last week, Davide and Magpale turned over a P110-million road concreting project in Carmen town.

Magpale also recalled that it was only Davide who gave full support in her advocacy to provide shelters for abused women and children, as well as those children in conflict with the law (CICL).

These include facilities in Consolacion called My Home and the Women and Children Development Center in Sitio Sudlon, Lahug, Cebu City. The Cebu Provincial Government also provided funds for the construction of another CICL center in City of Naga, which will break ground on Thursday, Feb. 21.

With health as the number one priority of the Davide-Magpale administration, the four provincial hospitals were upgraded with better facilities and equipment. Capitol also hired more doctors and staff than any governor ever did.

A part of these improvements was the construction of a P111-million expansion building for the Cebu Provincial Hospital in Carcar City, which broke ground two weeks ago.

As a pinnacle of their health programs, the Province’s Revenue Code of 2008 was amended last year, making hospitalization free in all Capitol-run hospitals, regardless of the patient’s economic status.

“I can look people in the eye and say in all honesty: sa tinuoray lang natuman ang among tanang saad,” Magpale said.

Once completed, the Resource Center will set up a one-stop shop for frontline offices of both local and national governments. This will fast-track the delivery of services to an estimated 1,000 clients everyday who will no longer transfer from one building to another.

Capitol officials assured the Cebuanos they will not bear the brunt of paying the loan as some of the spaces will be rented out.

The brief ceremony was attended by Capitol executives, Mayor Emerito Calderon of Samboan, Acting Mayor Jeremias Aguilar of Barili, as well as officials of the AS Enriquez Engineering Consultancy and Development Bank of the Philippines. (Cebu Provincial Government)