Cavite to host first PGH site outside Metro
A new Philippine General Hospital (PGH) will soon rise in Cavite province—making it the only second PGH facility and the first-ever outside of Metro Manila—to accommodate more patients in south Luzon.
Citing information from Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, President Marcos on Monday said the groundbreaking for the new PGH center in the City of Carmona will be held this month.
The PGH branch will have 200 beds—far smaller than the 600-bed hospital that Remulla announced in 2024.
“Pambihira (Unbelievable). Jonvic’s title is secretary of all local governments, but it seems to be playing favorites since Cavite always comes first for government projects,” the President quipped during the Bawat Barangay Makinabang event at General Trias Sports Park, earning the laughter of Cavite officials and locals.
“We’ve started to notice it in Cabinet meetings. We keep hearing about Cavite from our good secretary. But that’s a good thing, because Cavite’s population is growing,” he added.
Among the five provinces comprising Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) region, Cavite has the biggest population with 4.57 million as of the 2024 Census. The region’s population is 16.93 million, according the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Cavite is a first class province with 15 municipalities and eight cities. The most populous city in the province in 2024 was Dasmariñas City with a population of 744,511 followed by Bacoor City with 661,381. Carmona has a population of 112,140.
Prior to his appointment to the Department of the Interior and Local Government in 2024, Remulla had served the local government of Cavite since 1995—from provincial board member to vice governor and governor.
On Feb. 19, 2024, during the first cityhood anniversary of Carmona, then Governor Remulla announced the construction of a PGH branch in Carmona, the youngest among the eight component cities of Cavite.
“We, together with the congressman and the mayor, collaborated on establishing a Philippine General Hospital in Carmona Smart City,” Remulla had said. He was referring to Carmona Mayor Dahlia Loyola and her husband, Rep. Roy Loyola of the fifth district.
Mayor Loyola mentioned a possible groundbreaking event for the project back in June 2024.
Partnership
The PGH branch was reportedly supposed to be constructed in Carmona International City—a 200-hectare township project developed by SM Development Corp. in partnership with the city government of Carmona—spanning the villages of Maduya and Lantic.
Officials of the University of the Philippines (UP) and PGH have yet to respond to inquiries from the Inquirer, including its funding source and procurement mode.
Neither the UP System nor the Department of Public Works and Highways listed a construction of a UP-PGH facility in Carmona under their respective 2026 national budgets.
The same project was also not found in the database of the Public-Private Partnership Center. What were listed were an P11.49-billion, 400-bed UP-PGH in Diliman, Quezon City; and a P9.49-billion, 300-bed UP-PGH Manila Cancer Center in Manila.
The PGH is a tertiary state-owned hospital administered and operated by UP.
It is designated as the National University Hospital, and the national government referral center.
The only current PGH facility stands within a 10-hectare site located at the UP Manila campus in Ermita district.
PGH currently has 1,100 charity beds and 400 private beds, and is estimated to serve more than 600,000 patients every year, mostly indigents from different parts of the country.
It is currently the second-largest public hospital in the country, following the Department of Health (DOH)-operated Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City with 1,500 bed capacity.
Expansion
In May last year, President Marcos signed Republic Act No. 12210, expanding the hospital bed capacity from 1,334 to 2,200.
PGH shares its annual budget with the UP System (composed of 17 campuses across the country) at P29.475 billion for 2026.
For this year, PGH has been provided with P800-million funding for the Marcos administration’s zero balance billing (ZBB).
Under the program, all patients, regardless of their economic status, will no longer have to pay out of pocket when they are admitted at the basic ward of any of the 87 DOH-operated and selected local government-run hospitals.
The ZBB, however, only applies to basic or ward accommodation. A patient who opts to be transferred to a private room shall not be entitled to the program. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
