Editorial - October 2024 - JKW Medical & Wellness Center: Yet Another Fruit of Quiambao Model of Development

JKW Medical & Wellness Center: Yet Another Fruit of 'Quiambao Model of Development'

What are the odds that a tertiary hospital would one day be built in a faraway agricultural town in Pangasinan? I'd say, nil. Probably not even in a hundred years.

But that's exactly what happened October 18, 2024 in lowly Brgy. Asin (or is that Brgy. Ligue?), this town.

When we in my little LGU circle heard about the story of this hospital, we couldn't help but be deeply moved. As we understand it, it was built in memory of Julius Kindangen Quiambao, Dr. Cezar Quiambao’s (Bayambang town’s former mayor) firstborn who has gone ahead a few years ago. This hospital was not among the grand projects planned by him during his administration, but after some delay, the Julius K. Quiambao Medical and Wellness Center was indeed inaugurated on that day, graced no less by the presence of First Lady Marie Louise ‘Liza’ Araneta-Marcos, among other dignitaries (national, regional, provincial, municipal, barangay) from the private and public sector.

There are so many things that are equally astonishing in the background story of this hospital. It was built within only less than three years – a rate that is very fast in comparison to standard government projects, labyrinthine procurement procedures and all. It was also 100% privately funded under Julius' name, instead of the usual way most big hospitals are built, that is through either PPP or a collaboration among several players or investors in the private sector.

Lastly, we were told that nobody in this town, not even Dr. Quiambao himself, would have ever thought that a hospital like this would be built this fast and be funded that way in a town like Bayambang in such a year as this.

This story is, in the vernacular, "nakakapanindig balahibo." In spiritual terms, it is no less than a miracle story, a story of grace. Let us therefore thank God that we have reached this day seeing with our very own eyes how things that are previously thought to be impossible can be possible if we have good intentions, and if we seize a rare opportunity to be of help to a lot of people.

Although the circumstances around why it was built was unfortunate, it is a great comfort to know that this tribute to a beloved son is something that Julius Quiambao himself would have approved. He may have been gone, but his legacy of doing good and being kindhearted to all will be same spirit that will surely animate the operations of this new health institution in Region I.

As a former mayor, Dr. Quiambao has had a lot of big projects to his name, but this one project “hits different” the most, as a favorite phrase nowadays goes, because it is concerned with back-to-basics, life-and-death matters.

This latest achievement illustrates anew what we would like to call the “Quiambao model of development.” If we may recall, Quiambao came to power in the most unlikely way, bringing with him a visionary, transformative style of leadership that he had honed in the global corporate world. As a successful businessman based in Indonesia, he had the choice of being content with what he had achieved in life by spending the rest of his days playing golf at the Wack-Wack Country Club with his buddies. But instead, he dared to take the risk by throwing his hat in the crazy political arena in the Philippines just so that he would be able to give back to his hometown, in his own terms.

We all heard the story of how hesitantly he came to power: Even though he had never entertained it in his mind, even though it was never a part of his plan and ambition, he was forced to run in the local elections of 2016 because he got fed up with how his hometown was being run at the time. As he would put it much, much later in his term, "Maganda pala kapag nabubuwisit ang isang Cezar Quiambao. Biglang nagkakaroon ng proyekto. Ang mga problema, bigla na lang nasosolusyunan.”

We are glad, however, that this time, JKQ MWC was not built out of annoyance or wrath, but out of love, by choosing to turn personal loss and grief into something meaningful.

We can say that through this hospital, Julius Quiambao did not suffer in vain. As this hospital becomes God's instrument in healing our much-deprived kababayans, may the pain left by his absence in the Quiambao household be healed in time as well.

At this point, we ardently wish that Dr. Quiambao’s stupendous rise to power be known by all, especially those with the means to change our countryside with such lightning speed with which he has changed Bayambang, in ways that no one has done before.

If we may, we thus call on the rest of our Filipino expatriates who have sizeable resources waiting to be tapped to do as Dr. Quiambao did. May they consider the option of going back and making a difference by serving their own hometowns. May they consider the Quiambao model: By transferring their headquarters to their old hometowns, it is easy to imagine how their taxes alone could serve as an economic windfall that could pump-prime local economies and create drastic change -- real change -- in the lives of our people in the provinces.

We need more patriotic Filipinos like Dr. Quiambao as partners of local governments in pushing the envelope in socioeconomic development, especially in the area of healthcare. Let us all find creative ways in how to make our nation move forward towards greatness, one project like this at a time. It wouldn't hurt if it's just as lightning fast as the rise of JKQ MHW.