Republic of the Philippines HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Quezon City FIFTEENTH CONGRESS Second Regular Session HOUSE RESOLUTION No.

1700 ______________________________________________________________________________ Introduced by Reps. TEDDY A. CASIO and NERI JAVIER COLMENARES RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH TO CONDUCT AN INQUIRY, IN AID OF LEGISLATION, ON THE MISDIRECTED PLANNED SALE OF THE WELFAREVILLE PROPERTY IN MANDALUYONG CITY WHEREAS, on December 9, 1925, the Philippine Government approved Public Works Act No. 3258 which appropriated P180,000 for an insane asylum to be established in accordance with a plan to be approved by a committee composed of the Secretary of Public Instruction, as chairman, and the Secretary of Finance, the Director of Public Works, the Director of Health, and the Public Welfare Commissioner, as members, the latter also to act as secretary of the committee; WHEREAS, initially named the Insular Psychopathic Hospital, it was constructed on a hilly piece of land in Barrio Mauway, Mandaluyong, Rizal and was formally opened on December 17, 1928 with 379 patients transferred from the Insane Department of San Lazaro Hospital and City Sanitarium of Manila; WHEREAS, in 1968, under then president Ferdinand Marcoss administration, Republic Act No. 5260 was passed into law. It cited the need to disperse and decentralize its Welfareville Institutions, and to undertake other steps to upgrade child welfare services to create a Trustee Committee that will supervise the sale of the Welfareville properties. However, it did not specify what will happen to the National Mental Hospital (the former Insular Psychopathic Hospital) and other institutions in the area; WHEREAS, it was only a decade later, under Martial Law, that Marcos signed Presidential Decree No. 1541. This time, to comply with former first lady Imelda Marcos beautification projects, the decree explained that the National Mental Hospital located in the core of the New Metro Manila Area does not blend with the plans, programs and concept of the Metro Manila Commission. Though, completely different from the first premise, it also pointed out that the Hospital is in need of expansion. It, therefore, ordered the establishment of the Lungsod Silangan Mental Health Center and the 5-year decentralization program of the National Mental Hospital. According to the Alliance of Health Workers, the plan was a failure because of the lack of support and funds for regional hospitals and its personnel;

WHEREAS, the National Mental Hospital was renamed National Center for Mental Health during Corazon Aquinos presidency. Despite the questionable applicability and context of the 26-year old RA 5260, on February 14, 1994, then president Fidel Ramos signed Executive Order No. 156, creating an Inter-Agency Executive Committee to assist the Trustee Committee for the Comprehensive Development of Welfareville Property in the City of Mandaluyong, drawing basis not only from RA 5260 but also from Republic Act No. 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act. EO 156 erroneously classified the Welfareville Property as idle land to be developed and disposed for socialized housing; WHEREAS, talks about the relocation stirred protests among the health workers. In 1997, the Senate Committee on Health ordered the postponement of the sale because of the lack of an adequate plan for the transition and sustainability of hospital operations. There was also no consultation with representatives of the NCMH or the Department of Health. The bidding that year was declared a failure; WHEREAS, on June 29, 2011 a special meeting with stakeholders was held at the Department of Finance (DOF) building with representatives of concerned agencies present. However, the representatives of the real stakeholders the NCMH, families of patients and residents of Welfareville were not present; WHEREAS, amid their (real stakeholders) absence and the lack of consultation with them, the Trustee Committee, agency and local government representatives is trying to fast track the plan proposed by the Urban Development Team of the World Bank. Under said plan, the 44-hectare parcel of land wherein the NCMH and the Correctional Institute for Women is situated will be sold first. The bidding is set to start on July 2012 with the assistance of the World Bank (WB). The WBs objective is to construct medium-rise buildings for inclusive urban redevelopment; WHEREAS, besides the estimated amount of P4 billion for the transfer of the NCMH and the CIW and the 10-hectare land in Antipolo to house the two institutions, there is insufficient information on the plans for the NCMH, which is supposedly the priority of the said measures that paved the way for the planned sale of Welfareville; WHEREAS, furthermore, seven months is not enough to construct new facilities and transfer the NCMH and the CIW, as it is planned and written in the excerpts of the June 2011 meeting that prior to the sale targeted by July 2012, both the NCMH and the CIW should have been relocated/transferred. Also, the targeted land in Sitio Buyag, Barangay Inarawan, Antipolo City is not only inaccessible and likely prone to landslides because of its sloping terrain but is also facing a Petition for Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) coverage and Revocation of Conversion Clearance/Order; WHEREAS, more importantly, the 10.9 hectares to be allotted for the NCMH and the CIW is four times smaller than their present location. It is insufficient to house the 4,200 patients of the NCMH, not to mention the CIW. Instead of expanding the institution, the sale will deprive it of its rightful land; WHEREAS, as a signatory of the 1991 United Nations General Assembly resolution 46/119 or the Principles for the protection of persons with mental illness and the improvement of mental health

care, there is a need to strengthen the NCMH and set straight the real interests and needs of the Welfareville institutions; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Committee on Health conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the misdirected planned sale of the Welfareville property in Mandaluyong City.

Adopted,

TEDDY A. CASIO Bayan Muna Party-list

NERI JAVIER COLMENARES Bayan Muna Party-list