Philippine News
Makati building not ‘world-class’ – experts
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. Photo courtesy of Trillanes’ Facebook page.
MANILA – Experts tapped by the Senate blue ribbon committee said the 11-story Makati City Hall Parking Building –which has gypsum boards covered with rolling vinyl- on its internal walls and office floors, is not world-class.
Architects, engineers and a quantity surveyor were asked by the committee to help them determine whether a big amount of fund was spent for the building’s construction.
In an inspection conducted on Monday by Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Antonio Trillanes IV with the experts, the lawmakers said the building was a “average, standard office building,”
“I’d say it’s a modern building of average standard, but I wouldn’t consider it to be world-class standard,” quantity surveyor Greg Jackson, said.
Though, the experts are yet to conduct a categorical statement on the building’s construction cost, all of them noted that there was nothing unusual in the finishes, materials and design details of the building.
The building which was constructed from 2007 to 2012 with five floors of office and storage space has a roof deack with a garden and six parking levels.
There was no centralized air conditioning for the 11th and 10th floors of the building, which consisted mainly of storage spaces.
Meanwhile, after personally seeing the building and hearing the opinions of the experts, Trillanes commented that the building was indeed, ‘grossly overpriced.’
“After the ocular inspection, there is no doubt in my mind that it is grossly overpriced,” the senator said.
Cavite Gov. Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla, Binay’s spokesman, however, dismissed the allegations of Trillanes saying the statement of the senator were biased and subjective.
“What is important is that the materials used are the same ones reflected in the bill of materials, bidding was conducted and that the Commission on Audit audited the entire process and rendered a finding that there was no overpricing,” the governor said in a statement quoted from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“Outside these issues, they are subjective, biased statements,” he added.
