(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte said he did not see anything wrong in the building of the SEA Games cauldron which costs P50 million saying the structure was designed by a national artist and the cost of his work was for him to name.
Duterte said that the work of the late National Artist for Architecture, Francisco ‘Bobby’ Mañosa, and there was no corruption in the case.
“Mañosa was commissioned by the government to create ‘yung nakita mo ‘yung kaldero ngayon. It is a product of the mind. You cannot estimate how much nalugi ka because it is the rendition of the mind of the creator,” the President said in a late Tuesday night press briefing.
“Kung ‘yan ang singil niya, ‘di sabihin niya — ‘di ‘wag mong bilhin kung ayaw mo. ‘Yan ang presyo ko,” he said.
The President then questioned Senator Franklin Drilon for the Iloilo Convention Center which was completed in 2015. For its construction, some P250 million from Senator Franklin Drilon’s Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) was used, in addition to the P200 million allocated by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.
“You cannot debate with the painter. Sabi niya, “Sir, ‘yan ang…” Now, magsabi ka you create a symbolism of the athletic activity. Walang extravagance diyan? Bakit ‘yung coliseum niya doon ganun kalaki?” Duterte said.
“Bakit ‘di niya diyan liit-liitan? Bakit ganun kalaki?” he said as he in turn questioned the rationale for the construction of the P747-million Iloilo Convention Center built on a 1.7 hectare lot.
The SEA Games cauldron where the SEA games flames would be lit cost around P50-million which according to House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano was cheaper than the P63 million structure built by Singapore for the SEA Games.
National artist for architecture Mañosa who pioneered the art of Philippine neovernacular architecture, had also designed the Coconut Palace and the EDSA Shrine.
“So if we agreed ang sabi niya ang presyo niya is 45, so how big is big and how small is big and how small is small? Tanungin ko kayo ngayon. And it can build so many schools. Well, that is debatable, my friend Senator Drilon. I said you have yours and you also can build so many kilometers of what
you spent there — public money in your place,” Duterte said.
He said that this was a contract the price of which was determined by the national artist.
“Doon kontrata. Ito — ito binili mo ang utak niya. Kung pumayag ka sa utak niya,” he said.
“We build schools, yes. We build infrastructures for an Olympic event, yes. You — you impose your whatever thing there as big or small, you begin to criticize the efforts of the people there. Ako, sabi ng ano niya na ito ganito kalaki ang gawain niyo, eh he’s following the wishes of the person who made it. And that person is valuable because he created something which you want to portray up there of the coming Olympics,” the President explained.
The Manosa-designed SEA Games cauldron is three meters wide and 50 meters high, and built neat the newly constructed Athletic Stadium in the New Clark City.
It will be used for the torch lighting ceremony for the SEA Games.
Cayetano, co-chairman of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC), the private group which is handling preparations Philippine hosting of the SEA Games this year, insisted that the SEA Games cauldron which was designed by the late National Artist for Architecture Francisco “Bobby” Mañosa, was not overpriced.
“It’s not overpriced and it’s not excessive,” he said, stressing that the “SEA Games cauldron” is also a “work of art.”
