President Rodrigo Duterte is set to sign House Bill 6731 establishing a P600 million Bacolod City General Hospital into law at Malacañang Palace on Thursday evening, June 24, Bacolod Rep. Greg Gasataya said Wednesday.
Gasataya authored House Bill No. 6731 and Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri authored the counterpart measure in the Senate.
The Bacolod solon said he is very happy with the swift action of the president on the bill that was approved in the House on June 3, 2020, and in the Senate on May 31, 2021.
“It is very important for us here in Bacolod to have our own hospital so I am very thankful for the president’s response,” said Gasataya, who has been invited to the singing rites.
Hopefully the groundbreaking for the hospital can take place in the first quarter of 2022, he said.
Gasataya said as early as 2019 he had asked the Department of Health to prepare the plan for the hospital.
Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia thanked and congratulated Gasataya and Zubiri for sponsoring the bills creating the hospital.
The mayor said he has been invited to the signing rites but will be unable to go as he is attending the funeral of his sister-in-law Cecilia Montilla Leonardia.*