TACLOBAN CITY — At least 45 indigent families are facing displacement to give way to the expansion of the Eastern Visayas Medical Center, a Department of Health-run hospital in the region.

Tacloban City Councilor Jerry Uy said each family has received a demand letter ordering them to vacate the area and was offered P35,000 in financial assistance.

He said the families rely on modest incomes as laborers, farmers and small vendors and have been assessed and certified as indigent by the City Social Welfare and Development Office.

The expansion area is across the existing EVMC complex, where the DOH plans to construct the 12-story EVMC Legacy Building.

The planned facility will house expanded laboratories, a dialysis center and imaging services such as MRI and CT scans.

It will also include a lobby, basement parking, an indoor garden, a waiting area for relatives, training rooms and an auditorium.

The project is intended to expand regional healthcare capacity and help transition EVMC into a more specialized medical center. The DOH is targeting completion in 2028.

Uy said while the project deserves public support, the government must also protect the welfare of families who will be displaced.

“We should not simply remove a poor family from one place and leave them homeless somewhere else,” Uy said.

In a privilege speech during the regular session of the City Council, Uy proposed relocating the affected families to permanent housing communities built for victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

He said housing laws require the provision of relocation sites for families displaced by government projects.

“These families are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for a home because the government project requires them to give up the home they presently have,” Uy said.

Hundreds of housing units intended for Yolanda victims have reportedly been abandoned or remain unoccupied due to factors such as distance from the city proper, lack of livelihood opportunities and inadequate basic services.

“Instead of allowing these units to remain vacant, why not use them for families who have been identified by our own Social Welfare Office as indigent and who are now being displaced by a major government healthcare project?” Uy said.