GUIHULNGAN CITY, Negros Oriental — The Gov. William "Billy" Villegas Memorial Hospital (GWBVMH) has asked admitted patients to bring their own folding beds after its wards filled with dengue patients, even as a ₱99.9-million provincial government project to build and improve the hospital remains an unfinished concrete shell past its original contract deadline.
Hospital Asks Patients to Bring Folding Beds
In a post on its official Facebook page, the GWBVMH informed Guihulngan residents that its wards were overflowing with dengue patients. The hospital asked patients transferred from the emergency room to wait, acknowledging that bed assignments could be delayed.
Where no hospital bed was available, the facility said it was asking patients to bring folding beds — describing the practice as a way to continue admitting patients even when the hospital is at capacity. The hospital also urged the public, especially parents of young children, to use mosquito repellent and take other preventive measures against dengue.
₱99.9-Million Contract Issued to Philsouth Builders Inc.
The construction project behind the shortage is formally titled "Design and Build for the Construction/Improvement of Governor William 'Billy' Villegas Memorial Hospital," listed under Contract ID B-45-2025 and implemented by the Office of the Provincial Engineer of Negros Oriental.
The contractor is Philsouth Builders Inc. The contract amount is ₱99,899,502.77, against an approved budget of ₱100 million. Funding was drawn from Sangguniang Panlalawigan Resolution No. 622, General Fund, CY 2024, according to the Province's invitation to bid.
The Commission on Audit's 2024 Annual Audit Report on the Province lists the project among seven funded by the ₱5.85-billion joint loans signed on February 16, 2024 with the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines.
540-Day Period Ended September 17, 2026
According to the Province's Procurement Monitoring Report as of June 30, 2025, bids for the project were opened on March 11, 2025. The Notice of Award was issued on March 20, the contract was signed on March 26, and the Notice to Proceed followed on March 27, 2025.
Counted from the Notice to Proceed date, the original 540-calendar-day contract period expired on September 17, 2026. This publication found no approved time extension, suspension order, or variation order in the public records it reviewed. If any such document exists, the target completion date would differ from the original deadline.
Concrete Frame Standing, Signboards Left Blank
Breaking News Negros Oriental visited the hospital construction site on September 25, 2026 — eight days after the original contract period ended. Concrete columns and beams were standing, but no roof, finished floors, or exterior walls were visible beyond a low hollow-block perimeter. An excavator was present on site.
The project signboards at the site listed spaces for "Date Started," "Target Completion Date," and "Percentage of Completion" — all of which were left blank.
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 — a 33-percent decrease compared to the same period in 2025, according to the DOH-NIR. However, deaths rose, with six fatalities recorded in Negros Oriental during the same period.
A DOH-NIR official attributed the higher death count partly to patients seeking hospital care too late in the course of their illness.
Bed Capacity Questions Remain Unanswered
The hospital's public appeal raises a question that available public records do not yet answer: how much additional ward and bed capacity was the ₱99.9-million project intended to create, and whether that capacity could have relieved the current shortage had the project been completed and operating on schedule.
A completed building does not automatically translate to additional functional hospital beds. Equipment procurement, staffing, and licensing are also required before new wards can operate. The project's approved architectural plans and official accomplishment reports — neither of which were available in the public records reviewed by this publication — would clarify what was promised under the contract and how much physical progress has actually been achieved.
The provincial government has not issued a public statement on the construction delay or the hospital's bed shortage as of the time of publication.
Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Breaking News Negros Oriental / BNNO site visit, September 25, 2026