UP regents lift protection of arboretum for PGH construction

The Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines has voted to change the status of the UP Arboretum as a protected forest area to allow the construction of a  Philippine General Hospital unit in Diliman, the Philipine Collegian has reported.

Quoting Student Regent Isaac Punzalan, the official student publication said the BOR reclassified some of the portions in the arboretum to an "academic support zone."

Punzalan, Faculty Regent Ramon Guillermo, and Staff Regent Mylah Pedrano have reportedly opposed the proposal.

In a Facebook post, the Office of the Student Regent said Punzalan, Guillermo, and Pedrano voted against the reclassification of the UP Arboretum "citing unresolved environmental concerns and calls of the residents."

GMA News Online has reached out to Punzalan, as well to Commission on Higher Education chairperson J. Prospero De Vera III further information but they had yet to respond as of posting time.

De Vera as CHED chair is the chairman of the BOR.

UP President Danilo Concepcion earlier disclosed the plan to construct a unit of the PGH in Diliman, where the flagship campus of the university is located.

During a Senate hearing for UP's proposed P19.67-billion budget for 2021, Concepcion said it will be a 700-bed hospital that would need an initial funding of P9 billion.

"Yung PGH-Diliman ay kailangang kailangan itayo dahil 'di na tayo maaaring mag-expand sa UP Manila campus ng PGH," he said.

"Pero kinakailangan po nating lakihan ang ating ospital para dumami ang mga pasyente at nang sa ganoon ay lumaki rin ang capacity ng ating College of Medicine at gamitin ng kaniyang estudyante para sila ay ma-train at maging doktor," he said.

Aside from an extension of the College of Medicine, Concepcion said the UP-PGH Diliman unit will also have a Cancer Research Center.

"Ito po ay maganda preparation na rin for our next crisis when it comes to health crisis kung magkakaroon ulit ng pandemic," he said.

Two feasibility studies have been conducted for the project, he said. One was completed in September 2019 and the other one is projected to be finished this month. -NB, GMA News