SENATOR Alan Peter Cayetano revealed that he continues to find more questionable things as he reviews the rising costs of the New Senate Building (NSB).
He said that the Senate Committee on Accounts, which he chairs, has received numerous additional documents from relevant authorities, which they are meticulously reviewing.
He further said that it is possible that the costs are even higher than his initial estimate of P25-27 billion for the NSB.
“The story is developing. This week, I found out that many things are being hidden from us. Who is hiding them and why, I haven’t figured out yet, but we finally received caches that fill almost half a room with documents, and we’re getting through it,” Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Chair, Committee on Accounts said.
One of the issues Cayetano pointed out is the facade of the building.
Its initial cost was thought to be P1 billion, which was later lowered to P498 million, but it now appears to be around P2.9 billion.
Because of this, Cayetano appealed to Senator Nancy Binay, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which is the project manager of the NSB, and the Senate Coordinating Team (SCT) to be honest about the project to expedite decision-making.
“Tell the whole truth. This is just a review. I don’t know why many are reacting either by being frozen or spreading gossip about us. There are political attachments. What we’re doing is the review. If they came forward and gave us everything, we would have decisions by now,” Cayetano added.
According to Cayetano, his committee aims to complete critical decisions about the project next month to avoid further delays that could increase the building’s costs.
He said he would remain focused on reviewing the NSB despite the ethics complaint filed against him by Senator Nancy Binay.
On July 17, Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges Chair Francis “Tol” Tolentino announced that they would try to resolve it through a “conciliation process.”
“It’s a good idea to have conciliation, but in this case, it’s all about the Senate Building, the delays, and the costs,” he concluded.
He also said he would remain committed to finding solutions to reduce the project’s costs while maintaining its original design at a reasonable price.
