GUIHULNGAN CITY, Negros Oriental — Wards at the Gov. William “Billy” Villegas Memorial Hospital (GWBVMH) are overflowing with dengue patients, prompting hospital management to ask admitted patients to bring their own folding beds — even as a ₱99.9-million design-and-build project contracted to expand and improve the facility stands as an unfinished concrete shell, with its original 540-day contract period already expired.
Patients Told to Bring Their Own Beds
The GWBVMH announced through its official Facebook page that its wards had reached capacity due to the volume of dengue admissions. The hospital advised patients being transferred from the emergency room to expect delays in bed assignments.
In cases where no standard hospital bed is available, the facility said it would allow patients to use folding beds they bring themselves, framing the arrangement as a means of continuing to accept admissions despite the shortage. The hospital also called on the public — particularly parents of young children — to apply mosquito repellent and observe other dengue prevention practices.
₱99.9-Million Contract Awarded to Philsouth Builders Inc.
The stalled construction project is formally identified as “Design and Build for the Construction/Improvement of Governor William ‘Billy’ Villegas Memorial Hospital,” carrying Contract ID B-45-2025 and implemented under the Office of the Provincial Engineer of Negros Oriental.
Philsouth Builders Inc. was awarded the contract at ₱99,899,502.77, against an approved budget of ₱100 million. According to the Province’s invitation to bid, funding came from Sangguniang Panlalawigan Resolution No. 622, General Fund, CY 2024.
The Commission on Audit’s 2024 Annual Audit Report on the Province of Negros Oriental identifies the project as one of seven financed through ₱5.85 billion in joint loans executed on February 16, 2024 with the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.
Contract Period Lapsed September 17, 2026
Based on the Province’s Procurement Monitoring Report as of June 30, 2025, the project’s bids were opened on March 11, 2025. The Notice of Award followed on March 20, the contract was signed on March 26, and the Notice to Proceed was issued on March 27, 2025.
Reckoned from the Notice to Proceed date, the original 540-calendar-day contract period lapsed on September 17, 2026. No approved time extension, suspension order, or variation order appeared in the public records reviewed by this publication. Should any such document exist, the target completion date would be different from the original deadline.
Site Visit Shows Bare Frame, Blank Signboards
Breaking News Negros Oriental visited the construction site on September 25, 2026 — eight days after the original contract period had elapsed. Concrete columns and beams were in place, but no roofing, finished flooring, or exterior walls were visible beyond a low hollow-block perimeter. An excavator was present on site at the time of the visit.
Project signboards erected at the site included blank fields for “Date Started,” “Target Completion Date,” and “Percentage of Completion” — none of which had been filled in.
Six Dengue Deaths Recorded in Negros Oriental
The Department of Health-Negros Island Region (DOH-NIR) reported 4,972 dengue cases across the region from January 1 to September 19, 2026, representing a 33-percent decline from the same period in 2025, according to the DOH-NIR. Despite the drop in case count, the death toll rose, with six fatalities recorded in Negros Oriental during the same period.
A DOH-NIR official attributed part of the higher mortality figure to patients arriving at hospitals too late in the progression of their illness.
Key Questions on Bed Capacity Remain Open
The hospital’s public appeal leaves unanswered a question that available records do not resolve: specifically how much additional ward and bed capacity the ₱99.9-million project was designed to provide, and whether timely completion could have eased the current shortage.
A completed structure does not by itself translate into operational hospital beds — equipment, staffing, and licensing must also be in place before new wards can function. The project’s approved architectural plans and official accomplishment reports, neither of which were part of the public records reviewed by this publication, would indicate what the contract promised and how much physical progress has been made.
As of the time of publication, the provincial government had not released any public statement addressing either the construction delay or the hospital’s bed shortage.
Source: Breaking News Negros Oriental (breakingnewsnegrosoriental.com)
