CCMC contractor: Where’s our payment?
ONE of the contractors of the unfinished Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) cried foul after it was informed by the Cebu City Government that its contract was terminated in 2023 yet.
Catalino Padilla, C.E. Padilla Construction Inc. (Cepci) president and chairman, said they have not received any of the obligations due to them.
He said he has asked Cebu City to grant them a supplemental contract and to release their long overdue payment.
The City Government, in a letter signed by Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) head Joel Reston dated March 19, 2024, informed Cepci that the second construction agreement for the CCMC expired on June 12, 2023.
Cepci is one of four contractors that have worked on the new CCMC building.
Charlz Construction worked on Phase 1.1 of the project, while Cepci worked on Phases 1 and 2. Garay Philwide Builders worked on Phase 3, while M.E. Sicat Construction worked on Phase 4.
Cepci’s original contract with the City was suspended in September 2021 during the time of the late mayor Edgardo Labella, while waiting for the approval of the supplemental contract.
Padilla said that in March 2023, his firm was invited by the City Government to discuss the status of the CCMC project and address the concerns that had hampered the completion of the CCMC construction, including the need for Phase 2 to be completed.
In the meeting which was led by City Budget Officer Jerone Castillo, Padilla said his firm was directed to resume the construction even without the approved supplemental contract, with conditions that included the reconciliation of all additional works for the supplemental contract to be finalized within a week from the said meeting and full payment to be made for all the works that were accomplished prior to the suspension order.
This was the same period when the City disclosed that some defects were found on the fourth to the sixth floor of the new CCMC building during an investigation conducted by an independent body led by consultant Pericles Dakay, chief executive officer of Dakay Construction and Development Corp. on April 24, 2023.
Last July, City Administrator Collin Rosell said the Cepci was reviewing the structural aspect of the hospital, adding that repair work was being implemented, including the correction of surface defects like honeycombs and bug holes.
Rosell said Cepci started its repair works and review in April 2023.
“Unfortunately, none of the foregoing agreements materialized,” Padilla said in his letter.
Padilla said their eighth billing progress, which they submitted last August, was “still on processed.”
However, he did not state in his letter how much the eighth billing was.
“In spite of this, we have remained committed and made our part to ensure and deliver what is needed by the City Government to be able to provide all the necessary hospital facilities even if the scopes of work are no longer included in our present contract,” he said.
He asked the City Government to grant them the terms agreed and to immediately release the payment of their eighth progress billing.
Last December, Mayor Michael Rama promised to complete the 10th floor of the CCMC by February 2024 at no cost to the City Government, saying, “We already have the money, money that did not come from City Hall.”
However, CCMC medical director Peter Mancao, in an interview on Jan. 31, said the construction of the remaining three floors would not start in February.