Ayuman to City Health: Shed light on inclusion of BMO

A CEBU City village chief wants the City Health Department (CHD) to answer for the inclusion of the barangay mayor’s office (BMO) in its organizational chart.

Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman, in his personal Facebook account, posted last Friday a photo of an organizational chart, reportedly that of CHD.

Part of his post read: “Sige deny to death ang mayor nga walay BMO...apan ang structure sa CHD ubos ni Dr. Alma Corpin naay BMO nga giduma ni Dr. Luz Flora Yap, Dr. Marlo Maamo ug Peter Visit

acion. (They kept on denying to death the existence of the BMO, but the structure of CHD under Corpin includes a section for BMO, which is headed by Yap, Maamo and Visitacion).”

In an interview yesterday, Ayuman lamented that contrary to Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s denial of the BMO, it does exist as presented by the photo he posted.

He said he was informed by a doctor, whom he did not name, of the inclusion of the BMO in the organizational chart.

“For me, I think there is a duplication of function. In fact, it was the (Department of Interior and Local Government) DILG 7 who said it was not legal, but they kept on denying it,” he said.

In a previous report, DILG 7 Director Rene Burdeus clarified that the creation of the BMO does not duplicate the local government units’ functions since it does not exist.

What was established in the city’s 80 barangays, he said, were the Barangay Disaster Control Centers (BDCCs), which serve as the satellite office of City Hall.

These were created through Osmeña’s Executive Order 005.

This, after the City Council last month requested the DILG 7 to look into the creation of the BMO, particularly its function, duties and responsibilities, to determine if these replicate the functions of barangay captains.

Ayuman said that he, along with other village chiefs, will file a complaint before the Office of the President.

“We’re still collating facts. The BMO is under Osmeña’s Lifelong Medical Assistance Program. The distributors are not trained and even if they’ll use nurses, you need to secure a permit from the (Bureau of Food and Drugs) BFAD 7. It’s an insult to licensed pharmacists as these volunteers are not even trained,” he said.

Resolution

The Association of Barangay Councils last Friday passed a resolution asking the BFAD 7 to look into the alleged malpractice initiated by the volunteers tasked to deliver free medicines under Operation Lifelong, he said.

Osmeña, in an earlier interview, said the 400 volunteers under his medical assistance program will all receive training and will be working in their neighborhood for efficiency.

He had also maintained that he will fight for Operation Lifelong, should the City Council decide to slash the P85 mil- lion budget he allocated for the program.

Aside from this, Ayuman wants CHD to answer for the boxes of used syringes reportedly left open and dumped behind the CHD office.

He said these pose a great threat to the public and should be stored in locked containers.

For her part, Corpin, declined to give any comment on the matter and asked reporters to discuss the development with CHD point person Kenneth Siasar.

Several calls were made by Sun. Star Cebu to Siasar, but were left unanswered.

This is not the first time the village chief posted against CHD on social media.

Last week, he slammed the office for allegedly confiscating 4,680 maintenance medicines from their local health center. The issue has since been cleared.

Asked he is running after CHD, Ayuman denied having any grudge against Corpin, saying that his complaints are merely “constructive criticisms with factual basis.”