Sen. Cayetano Speaks on New Senate Building Costs amid Ongoing Review
NEW SENATE BUILDING – Philippine Senator Alan Peter Cayetano claimed that the building is coming out to the most expensive building in the Philippines.
One of the biggest issues in the Philippine political arena now is the cost of the new building of the upper chamber. Previously, senators Nancy Binay and Alan Peter Cayetano got into a conflict during a hearing set over the issue.
During the previous hearing, Sen. Nancy Binay walked out after a heated exchange with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. She stressed that the cost of the building is around Php 21 billion while he stressed it to be Php 23 billion.
Binay believes that Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Senior Undersecretary Emil Sadain does not have to apologize after Cayetano claimed that the construction of the new Senate building can reach Php 23 billion.
On the part of Cayetano, he said that the amount presented by the DPWH plus the land cost will result to Php 23 billion. Binay claimed that there is a senator who is allegedly backstabbing her. He reacted and told her that her name is Lourdes and not Marites.
Binay walked out. A few days after the heated exchange between the two senators, Cayetano claimed that both he and Binay are wrong as their claims were not based on the current prices of materials.
According to Cayetano, the cost of the construction of the new Senate building may balloon. Recently, the Senator claimed that they got an information that the new building of the upper chamber is set to come out as the most expensive building in the country.
Based on a recent report on GMA’s Balimtambayan, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said that the Php 25 to Php 27 billion projected cost in the construction of the new Senate building is “conservative”.
Cayetano appealed to Sen. Binay as well as the Senate Coordinating Team (SCT) of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) which is on top of the project to tell the truth about the cost of the new Senate building.
According to the Senator, if Binay and the SCT of the DPWH gave them all the information they need, they would already have the decisions. He stressed that he wants to make technical decisions about the NSB by August to avoid the delay of the project which may cause another addition on the expenses.