City to pay for brgy health center’s electricity bills

Mayor Michael Rama assured the health officer of Barangay Parian that the city will settle the barangay health center’s unpaid electricity bills so that the center will have electricity once again.

Rama said that the account of Barangay Parian will now be under the city government, specifically the City Health Department to avoid the same inconvenience.

“We will pay because they cannot go on without electricity,” Rama said.

The Parian Health Center has been without electricity for almost a year. Their connection was cut off last March 2011 owing to unpaid bills amounting to P38,000.

The health officer alleged that the barangay had been ignoring the situation. The delivery of health services has reportedly been affected because electrical equipment could not operate.

Rama said the city government is supposed to be paying the bills, but what he does not understand is why it took almost a year before the issue came into the open.

During a meeting with concerned city and barangay officials last Monday, it was agreed that the city will shoulder the payment.

“But I need to have a MOA ( memorandum of agreement) para klaro,” Rama said.

To avoid illegal connection, the MOA will indicate that the city will only pay for the electricity consumption of the health center, Rama said.

“Kay naa ra ba’y tukuron diha nga bag-ong police station unya naa pa gyud ang barangay,” Rama said.

Before its connection was cut off, the health center consumed electricity worth about P5,000 every month.

Aside from health centers, the city is also shouldering the electricity bills of public schools within the city.

In earlier interviews, City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete said that the bills of some schools and offices are not paid for by the city because no one has submitted or forwarded the bills to City Hall for processing.