NINE years and three mayors ago, the Cebu City government began the construction of the new Cebu City Medical Center . It was to be a modern, 10-story medical facility catering to the residents of Cebu City in general, the lower-income residents in particular. The need for a new city-owned hospital was obvious: the old CCMC building was rendered unsafe after the Oct. 15, 2013 earthquake of 7.2 magnitude.
The P908 million came from 'savings' -- P700 million from the above-mentioned P1 billion supplemental budget passed on July 28, 2021, and P217 million from the P500 million supplemental budget for CCMC passed on June 17, 2020 . The Commission on Audit, incidentally, found the P908 million project cost overstated by P62 million due to the application of the wrong VAT percentage.