By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff reporter
Laoag City—A city councilor proposed the renaming of the Laoag City General Hospital (LCGH) into the Michael V. Fariñas Memorial Hospital (MVFMH).
The council tackled the proposed resolution, sponsored by Laoag councilor Edison Siazon on first reading. The council later referred it to the committees on health and laws.
Laoag vice mayor and council presiding officer Franklin Dante A. Respicio requested that they should also refer the proposal to the National Historical Institute of the Philippines to know the requirements needed for its renaming.
Mr. Siazon, who chairs the committee on health, welcomed the suggestion saying he will secure all the needed requirements, if there are any.
Relative to this, Mr. Siazon said that the measure would be in recognition and a memorial to the late Laoag mayor and vice mayor for the “big transformation” he made for the LCGH.
Mr. Fariñas perished in a car crash last June.
Under the revised guidelines on the naming and renaming of streets, public schools, places, buildings, bridges and other public structures, it states that the Philippine president can name or rename all public places through a proclamation or by Congress through legislation.
The guidelines also state: “No public place should be named or renamed after a person within 10 years of his death except for highly exceptional reasons like the death was due to assassination in the service of the country; he/she gave exceptional service to the nation; death while trying to save others; death was a result of his patriotism and death while in performance of one’s duty”.
Laoag City Ordinance No. 48 created the LCGH during the administration of the late Laoag Mayor Eulalio F. Siazon in 1969.
The LCGH started with a 15-bed capacity hospital in 1975, with the Department of Health (DOH) establishing it. The Philippine Hospital Association classified it as a “general and primary hospital” in 1984.
On November 2008, the Laoag City government during the term of the late Laoag Mayor Michael V. Fariñas declared LCGH as an “economic enterprise”.
Since then, LCGH became a self-sustaining and income-generating enterprise of the city government, similar to the Laoag City Public Market.