Pasigueños have been keeping their hopes high and looking forward to the realization of the commitments made by their very popular mayor six years ago.
Pasig city Mayor Vico Sotto anchored his 2019 campaign on his reform and good government advocacy. He did not fully delivery on his promises during his first term and sought an extra three years to complete them. His people gave him that chance in 2022, but still, the reforms have yet to be fully implemented. In the May 12 elections, he is seeking his third and final term, a nine-year swing at the mayoralty, with a promise to leave a legacy of change and innovation.
Which leads us to ask: What exactly has Mayor Vico done in his first two terms? How far off has the city gone from the old Pasig that we all know?
Not very far, so we heard.
Health services in the city has improved, that we acknowledge. But the free health services that the city executive has boasted to deliver is lacking.
The Pasig City General Hospital (PCGH), which gets a huge chunk of subsidy from the city government, now enforces a “zero billing” policy for city-grown residents. Pasigueños who get sick and get confined at the PCGH do not pay a dime when they are discharged. That’s a huge relief especially for cash-strapped families who no longer have to borrow money from relatives, friends or even lending firms so they can pay off their hospital bills.
But hospital confinement for city residents are not really expense-free. We got testimonies that while Pasigueños do not pay anything when they leave the hospital, they, however, spend a lot on medicines and sometimes, even laboratory tests.
The PCGH gives free medicines to its in-patients. But these medicines, according to information that we have gathered, are not the medicines prescribed by doctors to their patients. Worse, these medicines are usually, if not always, not available in the hospital’s pharmacy. The old, tired line that patients’ family members or relatives get is that “they’re out of stock.” And since sick people need prescription drugs – whether generic or branded – to heal, residents are forced to go out and buy the needed medicines from private drugstores that are lined-up outside of the hospital compound. And albeit, these drugs are not cheap.
Many laboratory tests and diagnostic radiology screening requirements are also done outside of the PCGH, which is yet to be fully-equipped until now. The tests are done in private medical or diagnostic centers, which charge exorbitant fees for them.
Aside from these health services dilemma, students of Pasig City also have not received the uniforms, shoes and other school requirements promised by Mayor Vico. I was shocked when one resident told me that city hall employees are still going around town to get the shoe and uniform sizes of the city’s students. What’s taking them so long to do that?! Families have been waiting for the supplies since the school year opened in August last year. It’s been eight months and they have yet to finish their task! Isn’t it a little too late now for this? By next school year, the student’s uniform and shoe sizes would have already changed, and whatever they’d get from city hall would be too small by then. Tsk tsk. Wasted time, energy and money.
Then there’s the issue of housing. Pasigueños also have yet to see a single post of the housing project that Mayor Vico promised to provide to his constituents, especially those who belong to the marginalized sector. The project, almost six years since the mayor bragged about giving decent housing to city residents, has not moved from the drawing board. Not much has been done since the inauguration of the project, except for a lot of digging, so we were told.
And finally. The vow that won the hearts of Pasigueños: Good and clean government. The war against graft and corruption. What’s this we heard that not much has been done to eliminate the issue of dirty governance. A civil servant has alleged that the only act of the chief city executive in connection to his much-vaunted corruption-free administration is the removal of city hall employees and officials who are not home-grown Pasigueños. If you’re not from Pasig and live elsewhere, you’re out. That’s what we were told. Seriously? That’s it? How does this solve the problem of graft and corruption?!
These are the questions that the people of the city of Pasig are asking. They want answers. But many have remained tight-lipped about their dissatisfaction. The city mayor is known to be short of temper. He frowns at the slightest hint of “black propaganda” or “fake news.” But this piece isn’t any of these two. We’re just throwing questions what many Pasigueños are too afraid to ask.