House committee presses Mayagüez officials on missing trauma‑center funds, seeks bank and ASEM records

The House of Representatives’ Health Committee on Feb. 25 pressed Mayagüez officials and health‑sector representatives to explain where millions earmarked for the Mayagüez trauma project went and ordered follow‑up records from a bank and government health authorities.

The committee’s chair opened the hearing saying the day’s single item was the Mayagüez trauma/stabilizing room and related residency work. He told the mayor and municipal finance director that about $9,850,000 sits in a Banco Popular account and that "ese dinero... tiene que estar al servicio de la salud del pueblo de Puerto Rico, particularmente de la zona oeste" (chair, spoken in hearing).

Why it matters: committee members said the money was assigned in a series of joint resolutions but portions of earlier allocations do not appear in municipal receipts. The committee repeatedly asked the municipality and the Department of Health to show the chain of custody for the funds and to confirm whether any statutory reassignment took place.

What happened at the hearing: Mayor Jorge L. Ramos Ruiz and Javier Román Ruiz, the municipality’s manager for finance and budget, attended and provided certified documents. Román told the committee that for the 2012 joint resolution the municipality received a $2,250,000 transfer but that the committee’s reconciliation shows a gap of $7,750,000. Román said municipal receipts that the municipality does have total $3.6M for the 2015 resolution package and that he could not explain the missing amounts beyond what the municipality recorded.

The secretary of health (unnamed in the transcript) explained at the hearing that funds assigned to ASEM (Administración de Servicios Médicos) and to health sometimes remain in separate public‑corporation accounts and that different laws and special appropriations affect how and when money is transferred to municipalities or hospitals.

Formal follow‑up the committee directed:
- Request Banco Popular provide all transactions for the specified municipal account for the past 24 months; the committee gave the bank three business days during the hearing and said it would escalate legislatively if those records were not produced.
- Cite the director of ASEM (Administración de Servicios Médicos) to explain why the municipality received $2,250,000 instead of the $10,000,000 line item the committee located in the 2012 joint resolution and to provide evidence of any lawful reassignment.
- Request documentation from the Department of Housing on MID/mitigation funds and copies of the signed agreement cited by the hospital and municipality relating to proposed infrastructure work.

What the records show and what is still unresolved: committee members said they found certifications and canceled checks supporting some transfers but that certified amounts and dates do not reconcile to the full sums authorized in the legislative packages (Joint Resolution 84 of 2012; Joint Resolution 46 of 2014; Joint Resolution 63 of 2015). The committee noted a $400,000 difference in one packet and the larger $7.75M discrepancy for the 2012 line item remain unresolved pending ASEM and Treasury follow‑up.

What’s next: the committee closed the session by reiterating that it will "seguir el dinero" — follow the money — and issued written requests for bank transaction records, ASEM documentation and housing‑program paperwork; it also said staff would convene a follow‑up (non‑public) working meeting with the hospital and the Department of Health to discuss implementation options.

Quotes from the hearing:
- "Hay 7.75 millones que no llegaron" — Chair, reading the committee’s reconciliation of the 2012 allocation.
- "Lo que tenemos que hacer es seguir el dinero" — Chair, closing the hearing.

Ending: The committee did not vote or order sanctions during the hearing; it opened investigative and documentation tracks and scheduled follow‑up actions to clarify whether transfers were made, misposted, or lawfully reassigned.