It seems Senator Nancy Binay can't shake the feeling that the scheduled hearing to review the New Senate Building (NSB) has something to do with Makati and Taguig City's territorial dispute.
"Alam mo nung umpisa ayaw kong isipin na may ganung anggulo eh, pero habang tumatagal parang bumabalik pa rin tayo dun sa Taguig-Makati issue. Lalong-lalo na di ba na parang alam naman na iniisip natin na tumakbong local (You know at first, I don't want to think of that angle but as it went on it seems like we keep coming back to the Taguig-Makati issue. Especially since it's known that I'm planning to run for local office)," she said in an interview on Tuesday, July 2.
Binay said that this idea comes to mind given the fact that the new Senate Accounts Committee chairperson, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has not even met yet with the team in charge of the NSB for a proper turnover.
For Binay, usually when a person assumes a new position, they will call the staff, the people involved with it to introduce themself as the new person who will lead it.
"Wala pang ganun, it's more than a month. Hindi niya pa kilala kung sino yung mga tao na nagtatapos ng building (Nothing like that happened and it's been more than a month. He doesn't even know the people who are going to finish the building)," she said.
"So kung ganun action niya, di ba pwedeng sa malikot na isip pwede mo isipin ano ba talagang intention niya di ba? Kasi bakit kailangan magkaroon, magpatawag ng hearing kaagad? (If he's acting that way, to a mischievous mind you would ask, what are his intentions? Why is there a need to call for a hearing?)" she added.
The Senate Accounts Committee is set to conduct a public hearing on Wednesday, July 3, stating that it is a part of its commitment to ensure a prompt and impartial review of the New Senate building.
Chaired by Cayetano, the Senate panel said that it has reached out numerous times to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) since June 14, 2024, for the submission of all project-related documents but all their communication has "fallen on deaf ears."
"Consequently, we have formally requested Secretary Manuel Bonoan for these documents to be submitted no later than Monday, July 1, 2024. This timeline allows committee members adequate time to review the materials thoroughly ahead of Wednesday’s hearing," it said.
However, Binay said that technically, if there was a proper turnover, the said documents that he's asking for from DPWH are just in the Senate building, and as chairperson of the Committee on Accounts she said that Cayetano can already have access to those documents that he's asking for.
"But yun na nga eh, hindi niya ako tinanong so nag-aantay din ako kasi may mga ibang data nasa cloud. So on my end kailangan ko din malaman sino ba yung bibigyan namin ng access to the cloud or yung mga ganung dokumento. And so far parang wala pang ganung transition and turnover kasi nga babalik na naman tayo dun sa hindi pa niya ako kinakausap (But then again, he didn't ask me so I'm just waiting because some of the data is in the cloud. So on my end, I need to know who will I give that access to the cloud to or those documents. And so far there hasn't been any kind of transition or turnover like that because we'll be going back to the part where he still hasn't talked to me about it)," Binay said.
She mentioned that they would be monitoring the hearing and she also just recently found out that she has been removed from the Senate Committee on Accounts.
Asked for the reason regarding this, Binay said that she has no idea since Cayetano has yet to speak to him.
"Magmomonitor muna tayo tingnan natin kung ano ba yung nagiging direksyon kung kinakailangan ba talaga akong bumaba dun or tingnan natin kasi baka nga yung hearing tomorrow would be an opportunity para makapagusap kami (We will monitor first and look at the direction of the hearing if I need to go down there or let's see if perhaps the hearing tomorrow ould be an opportunity for us to talk)," she added.