A vision to have their own district hospital that residents of Quezon City's Tandang Sora District can call their call own came from their former barangay chairman turned House of Representatives, Congresswoman Marivic Co-Pilar.

She does not became a Congresswoman by popularity, like some of the Congress members because they neither belong to 'showbiz' or any other course that catches the "madlang people" or masses' attention.

Co-Pilar first became a Barangay Chairwoman of Barangay Pasong Tamo that every mother turned to if there was a sick family member, begging to be hospitalized.

This continued until the people decided to vote for her as one of their district's six city council members.

It became a routine for Co-Pilar to refer those who need to be hospitalized to city-run hospitals near them. For that reason that she envisioned another city-run hospital should be built for her district. But she was only a city councilor.

After nine years at the council, her constituents decided to bring her to Congress as they shared the same dream.

The need aggravated with the onslaught of pandemic, that made Co-Pilar much determined to pursue her dream.

And all because the lady solon didn't want the under privileged people of District 6 to suffer the same agony during the pandemic, she worked hard for the hospital to become a reality.

And she talked to Mayor Joy Belmonte and it became their platform as they promised the same during the campaign for their second term.

A need assessment followed, that showed there is really a need to put-up a hospital for the district in cases of emergency. Two routes were explored, either a University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) Extension in Central Avenue or the construction of their very owned district hospital.

Having it at UP-PGH will take a long process but if local public hospital has to built, funding would only be the problem. And the promised was made. And the ladies both win.

Co-Pilar started looking for P65 million funding based on a plan submitted to her by people she consulted but along the way, it grew the need ballooned to P300 million.

The two ladies met again and agreed that Belmonte will take care of the location and it's acquisition if needed. The solon would take care of looking for funds for the hospital constructions.

First for a five-storey building that later on became seven, raised also the need for money to the tune of P500 million.

Because hospitals should meet the Department of Health's standard that need a special kind of architect for its design.

June last year as the 2nd regular session commenced, Co-Pilar approached Speaker Martin Romualdez and Representative Yedda Romualdez and discussed the need for a district hospital.

After a few days of number crunching, they were able to help Co-pilar by augmenting the infrastructure budget of the district. That was followed by meetings with DPWH officials who were able to allocate the full amount for the hospital to be constructed.

As construction progresses and the vision of the Tandang Sora Hospital and Medical Center takes shape, Co-Pilar along with Belmonte continue to demonstrate their commitment to the health and welfare of its constituents.