By Meanne Corvera
Eagle News Service
Several senators defended the plan to have a multi-billion Senate building constructed in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
According to Senator Ping Lacson, chair of the Senate committee on finance, the P127 million per year rental that the Senate is paying the (Government Service Insurance System) for a “subpar legislative building is our main reason for finding a need to look for a new and permanent home.”
He said this was apart from the rental fee paid for the use of parking spaces.
According to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, with the new building in BGC, the Senate would actually save more money.
“Nagbabayad tayo dito ng close to P250 million per year so lumalabas in ten years, nakapagpatayo na tayo ng sariling building. Sa ngayon, nagrerenta tayo, hindi natin ma-renovate ang building na ito dahil nga
nagrerenta lang tayo, hindi tayo maka-invest ng mas malaki,” he said.
“Kapag titingnan natin ang economics, in ten years, kung same amount ng binabayad natin sa GSIS ay inilagay na lang natin sa isang bagong building, nakapagpatayo na tayo ng bagong building so it makes
economic sense to put up your own building na puwede nating gastusan at puwede tayong mag-invest,” he added.
According to Gatchalian the plan to transfer the Senate building was conceptualized as early as 2011.
“Ang pinaka-high end ay aabot ng 80,000 per square meter, ang regular na government building ay aabot ng 45,000 per square meter, so ang 50,000 na budget per square meter is within the range of reasonableness. Ngayon, ang importante rito ay dapat ang mga materyales na gagamitin ay hindi overpriced, ang specifications ay hindi mas mababa so I think yung budget ay within reasonable grounds,” he added.
According to Lacson, barring hitches, the start of construction of the new Senate building on the two-hectare site beside the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) complex is in January 2019.
The building is slated to be completed in two years.
Senators and other personnel, Lacson said, are scheduled to leave for the new Senate building in 2020.
Earlier, Rigoberto Tiglao, a former Malacanang spokesperson, said in his column that the cost of the project should be used instead to fortify the contested islands, reefs and islets in the West Philippine Sea, among others.