CAPITOL Site, Cebu City barangay captain Manuel Guanzon said they would expand the village’s two-story building to also offer maternity services to their constituents.
Guanzon said during the “Kumusta Kap” program hosted by SunStar Cebu reporter Benjie Talisic on Wednesday, October 5, 2022, that the two-story building is occupied by the barangay’s health center.
He said they will add two more floors to serve as the birthing center.
“Worth P3 million to P4 million ni nga project sa barangay. Nangayo ta ug suporta sa ubang ahensiya. Gisugdan na ang maong building ug tiwason na lang kini,” said Guanzon.
(The project is worth P3 million to P4 million. We asked for support from other agencies. Construction has already started and just needs to be finished.)
During the program, the barangay captain denied reports that one of their fire trucks is not operational, saying it was only kept idle as they lacked personnel to operate the vehicle.
Guanzon said the barangay has two fire trucks — a tanker and a penetrator — but only the former is operational as they are still looking for personnel to man the latter.
He expressed optimism, though, that the penetrator truck may already be operational by next year when they can already hire a crew.
At least five to six people are needed to operate the penetrator.
The hired individuals will receive a monthly honorarium of P9,000 each.
“Duna tay penetrator pero wala natu padagana kay wala pa masulod sa payroll nato. Dunay P9,000 nga honoraryum ang gihatag sa barangay ana wala pay labot sa siyudad,” Guanzon said.
(We have a penetrator but we are not using it since it is not included in our payroll. There is a P9,000 honorarium from the barangay for this purpose, not to mention the city.)
With regards to their ambulance, Guanzon said the vehicle is only available to transport patients from their house to the hospital, but not to respond to emergency cases, after some of its crew were pulled out by the Cebu City Government under the present administration.
Guanzon also mentioned during the Kumusta Kap program that the barangay has five garbage trucks, of which only three are operational — two 10-wheelers and a six-wheeler — as the two others are undergoing repair.
Guanzon hoped to hasten the repair as they sometimes asked help from the City’s Department of Public Services due to unavailability of fire trucks that will collect all the garbage.
The barangay also gave free medicines to their constituents and continued installing street lights, especially in the interior portion, to replace the damaged ones.
Guanzon said they also issue barangay clearance for free to their constituents who are looking for jobs to ease their financial burden, except for the business clearance.
The barangay is also planning to build an elementary school building, which they can call their own.
Guanzon said they have already bought a lot owned by the Capitol at the back of the barangay hall where the school building would be situated.
However, the barangay and the Department of Education did not come to terms during their meeting regarding the issue, as the latter wanted to own the lot that they would occupy to ensure that they would not be ejected from the area but Guanzon did not agree to their proposal.
In maintaining the peace and order situation in the locality, Barangay Capitol Site has 12 tanods who work in three shifts with four in every shift.
Despite the City Government allowing a barangay to employ 20 tanods, his barangay still needs eight tanods to fill the void.
Meanwhile, at least 50 families occupying a government lot measuring around 4,000 square meters near the National Bureau of Investigation are facing the risk of having their houses and stores demolished.
“Ang problema man gud ani kanang yuta, duha na ka parsela. Ang usa niana gipanag-iyahan sa mga Quijada, samtang ang usa niini ang tag-iya national government. Ang gibutang sa demolisyon order kaning yuta sa mga Quijada. Now, humana ang demolisyon sa yuta ni Quijada, i-apil man nila ang yuta sa gobiyerno, mao nay amo’ng gidepensahan,” Guanzon said.
“The problem with this land is that there are two parcels, one of which is owned by the Quijadas, while the other is owned by the national government. The subject of the demolition order is Quijada’s lot. Now after the demolition has been implemented, the Quijadas wanted to include the government lot in the demolition.)
To recall, the court filed a contempt case against Guanzon as the latter intervened when the demolition team was about to include the houses sitting on a government lot in the demolition.
Guanzon said in his defense that the area sits in a “dry river bed” and therefore owned by the National Government. (BBT, TPT)