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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Chiz: DPWH issued a slowdown order on New Senate Building even before he ordered suspension

Chiz: DPWH issued a slowdown order on New Senate Building even before he ordered suspension

Published Jul 1, 2024 08:46 am

Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escuderoo said the construction of the New Senate Building had been delayed even before he ordered the suspension.


Escudero pointed this out after Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri appealed to his leadership to conduct a Senate inquiry on the matter soon to avoid further delays in its construction.


The Senate chief, however, insisted that the Senate inquiry to be held by the Committee on Accounts, is not the reason why its construction is delayed, noting that such situation happened because the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has issued a slowdown order on the project.


“They should have mentioned that the DPWH issued a slowdown order because there have been differences with the contractors and DPWH regarding some defects that were dine or had been done or due to some mistakes,” Escudero said in Filipino in an interview on Monday, July 1.


“And because they are not receiving payment, there was a slowdown,” he pointd out.


Escudero also said it was not the scheduled review or hearing that is the cause of the delays but the slowdown order from the DPWH.


Escudero also clarified they did not suspend the P8.9 billion original amount that was negotiated, but only the additional P10 -billion required for the completion of the building which has yet to be implemented in the first place.


“Precisely because we see the need for a review and find out why the amount became that high just to finish the new building,” he pointed out.


“So we need to know, how much do we really need to spend to finish the entire building? Secondly, with such a bigger building, how much do we need to maintain it? We need to know everything. It’s important to know, we can’t just continue into it with our eyes closed no matter how beautiful the building is if our conscience can’t accept the huge amount of public funds that would go into it,” he stressed.


In an interview, Zubiri said he is confident there are no irregularities, in terms of funding, that would be discovered when the accounts panel discussed the details about the New Senate Building which is scheduled this week.


The accounts committee, chaired by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, has set the hearing on Wednesday, July 3. Cayetano had vowed to conduct a fair and prompt review of the NSB.



Related Tags

Alan Peter Cayetano Chiz Escudero DPWH PROJECT migz zubiri new senate building
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