The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) continues to crank out health-related facilities amid the persisting coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
This, as the agency bared on Sunday, May 16 the completion of a two-storey health center in the highlands of Leon, Iloilo. Residents of Barangay Bucari--dubbed “Little Baguio” and the “Summer Capital of Iloilo'"--have been benefiting from the facility, which has a price tag of P4.82 million.
Secretary Mark Villar said the DPWH Iloilo 4th District Engineering Office (DEO) finished construction on the barangay health center earlier this year. He said the health center has been providing first aid services, maternal and child healthcare, and other basic medical services to Bucari folk since its completion.
The timely delivery of the much-needed health facility has been valuable in Iloilo’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic as residents no longer need to go to the district and city hospitals, preventing their possible exposure to the virus. That Bucari has been continuously gaining attention as a tourist destination in Iloilo for its cool climate, topography, and highland attractions and scenery makes the presence of a barangay health center all the more important, Villar said.
Among the popular local attractions are the Bucari Pine Forest and Imoy Falls. Bucari’s health center has also been beneficial to residents from Leon town’s nearby villages as well as the seven barangays of the so-called “Seven Cities” in the neighboring town of Alimodian.