The story behind the Kalinga Medical Center controversy

By Henry Gupaal

Kalinga Gabriela Mija Kim Medical Center (Medical Center for short) was constructed during the term of former Governor Dominador Belac (2004-2007) with a donation from former South Korean Ambassador Key Sung Cho and counter parted by the Provincial Government and Barangay Agbannawag.

During the term of former Governor FloydeliaDiasen (2007-2010) the Medical Center was never utilized, neither was it operated for its purpose.

When Governor Jocel Baac assumed office in 2010, he immediately had the medical center repaired and rehabilitated because there were damages on its roofings, floorings, doors, windows, and others caused by typhoons and other natural causes; some of the medical equipments donated by South Korea were stolen by thieves because there were no security guards assigned to secure the facility. Governor Baac did this to preserve the physical wholeness of the Medical Center and to fulfill one of his vision-mission to provide quality health services to the people.

The repair of the Medical Center was finished by November of 2010 and was inaugurated the following month with the attendance of all officials of the province including the DOH CAR regional director and representatives from DOH Manila.

After the inauguration the Medical Center was operated on as a birthing home and a lying-in center to address the medical needs and other health services of Agbannawag and other nearby barangays including the neighbouring places of Isabela.

Dr. Ruth Duguiang was detailed as its first medical doctor together with few nursing staff and other employees from the Kalinga District Hospital, Lubuagan.

Because of the growing number of patients the old building cannot accommodate all the patients so the Provincial Government thru the Honourable Governor had constructed a two-room extension of the old building in 2012 and in 2014, another new two-room building was constructed with a counter-part from Ambassador Key Sung Cho.

On February 24, 2015 the Provincial Health Board passed Resolution No. 2015-001 requesting the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to:

1.                    Adopt the guidelines set by the PHB in the management and operations of the Medical Center at Agbannawag, Tabuk City and;

2.                    To pass the corresponding Resolution adopting and declaring Kalinga Mija Kim as an annex or an extension of KPH to justify the allocation of funds by the provincial government for its operation;

Aside from this requirement, the Philhealth also cannot renew or accredit the Medical Center as a birthing home or lying-in center for the patients and staff to avail of the benefits provided by Philhealth without the License to Operate (LTO) from the DOH.

There are issuances or department orders from the DOH regarding the issuance of LTO for the operations of health facilities like birthing homes and the Provincial Governor cannot continue to ignore these rules and regulations otherwise violations would ensue.

It was transmitted to the SP through the Office of the Secretary to the SP and duly received by said office on March 5, 2015.

Because of the inaction of the SP on the PHB Resolution, the Honourable Governor issued an Executive Order dated April 2015 temporarily closing the operations of the medical center pending the issuance of the LTO by the DOH and the accreditation by Philhealth and the passing of a resolution by SP authorizing the operations of the medical center as an annex or extension of the KPH.

On May 5, 2015 or two months after the PHB resolution was passed and duly received by the SP, the SP passed Resolution No.2015-058.

The title of the resolution is “Declaring the Kalinga Gabriela Mija Kim Medical Center at Barangay Agbannawag as an annex or extension of the Kalinga Provincial Hospital and directing the latter to restore the health services thereat”.

The phrase “directing the latter to restore the health services thereat” does not refer to KPH but it refers to a person.

In the second “WHEREAS” of this SP resolution it says “the said medical center was abandoned and futile” is inconsistent with the action requested in the PHB Resolution.

How can the SP resolution, which was moved by Honourable Camilo Lammawin Jr., say that the medical center was “abandoned and futile” when in fact it was Governor Baac who caused the repair, rehabilitation and operations of the medical center and then constructed another two new buildings to accommodate more patients?

The delay of the passage of the SP resolution was done with malice and intent to sabotage the administration for the management and operations of the medical center to the detriment of the health services to the people and to make it appear that the Governor has been remiss of his mandate. This is often done even in the passage of the budget of the provincial government and all programs that promote the welfare of our people to sabotage so that there will be no programs implemented so that he will be a lame duck governor.

It would have been better had the SP resolution followed the request contained in PHB resolution no. 2015-001.

In the meantime all the barangays of Agbannawag, Malalao, Bulo, Lacnog, and Nambaran submitted to the SP their separate barangay resolutions asking the SP to pass the necessary resolution or ordinance for the immediate opening of the medical center.

In the meantime also the same members of the SP together with the secretary were planning to file a case against the governor with the ombudsman. And on June 23, 2015 a case was filed against the Governor with the ombudsman signed by the VG, board members Lammawin, Alunday, Diasen, Kitongan, Bongngat, and Secretary Matbagan.

It may be recalled that this case arose from the unfortunate incident when Mr. Matbagan was scolded by the Governor because he signed with the vice governor the SP resolution numbered 2015-058 which he admitted to the governor that he did not prepare the controversial resolution wherein the Kalinga Gabriela Mija Kim Medical Center at Agbannawag was rendered “abandoned and futile” where in fact it is not.

That this incident could have been settled amicably by and between the families of the Governor and Mathew as was always assured by the family of Mathew even through Facebook. The governor even intimated to me that both family approved to meet together through bible sharing or prayer and that the family of Governor Baac scheduled this bible sharing but Mathew’s family kept delaying until finally they filed the case with the ombudsman.

By filing a case against the Governor they want him to be immobilized as was their prayer in the case filed with the Ombudsman seeking his suspension and dismissal from the service.

In hindsight, when I was provincial administrator during the second term of Gov. Belac, and Vice Gov. Diasen, I never saw this kind of leadership by the SP where the SP is deviating from its legislative functions by enacting a resolution that is inconsistent with a provincial health board resolution requesting for legislative action.

The family of Gov. Baac even went to talk to Dra. Rita Dong-as through MaricelTaclobao because Dra. Dong-as acted as one of the god-parent during Maricel’s wedding. Dr. Dong-as assured Maricel that Mathew will not file a case against the governor. Even DacioDuyan, who is related by affinity to the Matbagans, went to verify with Mathew and he admitted that he was “forced” by the VG and some SP members to sign the complaint.

While it may be true that the governor as the chief executive of the province gets angry when things are not going right in the provincial government, let us not forget that the governor is also a human being like us, he has emotions, he gets angry, even us his close staff he gets angry at us when we do not do well in our jobs.

What I have seen in him ever since he became governor, he is really passionate about how the province should be at par with other provinces which are ahead in terms of development. He is the kind of leader who has political will and this was manifested in what he did with the Kalinga Provincial Hospital, the peace and order condition of the province which our people perceived to have improved. He has his mind set to achieve the common good. All of these take a strong determination to do what is right and to give to the people the services that they expect of their public officials.

Kasla ti maysa nga ama ti pamilya, when he disciplines his children he scolds them; or a classroom teacher who scolds his pupils to discipline them and to emphasize the importance of learning; this the father or the teacher do for the sake of the children or pupil, they do not do for themselves.

We are a third class province and the governor is really determined to move this province forward to first class province, that is why he is serious in the implementation of reforms in the system of governance.

The governor was charged with the following:

1. Physical injury. How can there be physical injury when the governor just scolded him and pulled of his polo barong for him to come nearer so he could read the resolution signed by him (SP Secretary Matbagan) and the vice governor
2.   Coercion .  How can there be coercion when the complainant was not forced against his will? When he was told to read and review the resolution and upon reading the same, he himself admitted the defect of the resolution, thus Mr. Matbagan voluntarily  requested to get back the copy of the resolution for him to rectify.rave misconduct.
3. Grave misconduct is doing something which is not ought to be done which is misfeasance. How can there be grave misconduct when in fact the Governor merely wanted to ensure that the contents of the resolution is in conformity with the PHB Resolution 2015-001?  

4. Malicious mischief. There was no malicious mischief because malicious mischief is destruction out of hate, revenge or other evil motive, for the specific purpose of destroying property. The ball pen which was destroyed and caused the tainting of the polo was accidentally broken.
5. Oppression. Neither the governor was oppressive because he does not govern with injustice nor tyranny. He just scolded Mathew for what he did by signing the resolution without sanitizing its contents which are malicious and allegedly prepared by BMs Bongngat and Diasen.
6. Abuse of authority. There was no abuse of 
7. authority because he just merely exercised his duties and functions to safeguard the general welfare of the people in accordance with RA 7160 where he has general supervision over all employees and the operations of the provincial government.
8.  Being notoriously undesirable. How can the governor be accused of this when in fact he has been elected many times overwhelmingly by the people. This means that the people had reposed in him their trust and confidence to govern the province and lead it to development. It is just that the governor is showing political will in his management of the provincial government.
9. Conduct unbecoming a public officer. There was no unbecoming conduct because of the reasons given above. He is trying only to correct the abuse by the some members of the sp, on the contrary they are the ones exhibiting a conduct unbecoming a public officer because of their malicious intent manifested in the controversial resolution.

It is important to note that the Governor is not charged with the provisions of the Anti-graft and corrupt practices act or Republic Act 3019, he is not charged concerning money of the government, but rather he is charged by reason of his fulfilling his duties and responsibilities which he took under oath as a public officer.

(KALINGA) sato ton man apresiarakkan Gov. Baac ta bokon un gapu siakaw di pundo di gobiyerno ton naidarumana nu di ketsato nanggomnaun pumiya ton ilitakon Kalinga kan pumiya ton biyag di amin un yKalinga. Ken babaen til iderato na, nasayaat ti manangimatonna iti provincial government nga diretsu ken natalged.

During his term as governor our province was removed from the club of 20 poorest provinces and we are now number 43 out of the 82 provinces in the country. This is based on the National Statistics coordinating Board report which published the official status of all provinces.Under his watch our province was awarded the Seal of Good Housekeeping and the Seal of Good Governance (gold) for three consecutive years.

Our province was adjudged one of the top ten rice producing provinces in the country for two consecutive years and the prize was used to concrete the road going down to our agricultural research center at Purok 5 and the construction of the Farmers college at the DA compound for the use of our farmers. Number 2 tayo pay itiPhilhealthiti collections ken coverage in the Cordillera next to Baguio General Hospital. KASANO NA NGAY NGA ITULOY NI GOV. BAAC DAGITOY NGA NAARAMID ITI ADMINISTRASYON DA NU saan da agkakaawatan gapu iti darum da?

How come that these board members and the VG claim that governor Baac is “undesirable”? Halos awan pay titiempo ni Gov. Baac iti bagina ken pamilyana gapu lang iti gagarna nga agserbi iti agpayso kadagiti tattao.

During these times of trial and challenge, he is personally affected especially by the actions of the SP. With this, I expect that the legislative support to the administration’s delivery of the services will slow down and greatly affect the proper implementation of the programs of government and the losers will be our people. Sobraunayngapoliticaketmakadadaelitinasayaatngapanangimanehariti provincial government. The good Governor was just trying to correct things as they should be.

Adayo pay met timay 2016 election. Agtrabaho tayo pay, awan pay koma politica. Let us just wait for the start of the 2016 election campaign period agsipud ta Kakaasi ti tattao nga saan tayo maservian gapo iti nasapa unay nga panag politica.

Let us continue to pray for guidance and unity among our leaders.