TRO sought vs. new Pasig city hall project

A petition seeking a temporary restraining order against the construction of new Pasig city hall has been filed with Pasig regional trial court.

In a 39-page petition filed on August 19, named as respondents were Mayor Vico Sotto, and Vice Mayor Robert Vincent Jude B. Jaworski, Jr., Councilors Raymund Francis Rustia, Corazon Raymundo, Simon Gerard Tantoc, Paul Roman Santiago, Noel Agustin, Roderick Mario Gonzales, Marion  Rosalio Martires, Keil Custillas, Maria Luisa De Leon, and Mark Gil delos Santos as members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod.

Complainant Alejandro dela Vega Sanoy said the respondents allocated P9.6 billion "from the city coffers for the demolition and construction of a new city hall of Pasig City—which amount could have been spent in developing a community-based and a more responsive health care delivery."

He said sometime in March 2024, cause-oriented groups submitted a policy proposal for the development of a “people-oriented primary healthcare,” which covers “health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care across the life course” but the Office of the Mayor never responded nor acknowledged the proposal.

He urged the court to void Resolution No. 42-11, which “authorized the Pasig City local government to enter into a multi-year contract for the procurement of design and build services, demolition of existing structures within Pasig City Hall compound, and construction of the  new Pasig City Hall.”

The resolution approved a P9.644 billion budget for the city hall construction and requires the project to be completed in 720 days. The complainant said there was no ordinance, annual investment plan, nor local development plan that authorize the budget allotment for the new city hall construction.

The petition also seeks to void Ordinance No. 13, Series of 2024, which allotted a supplemental budget of P6.463 billion to finance additional expenses, projects, and programs.

Further, it seeks to declare null and void another ordinance prescribing the guidelines for the issuance of a Multi-Year Contract Authority.

GMA News Online sought Sotto for comment but he has yet to respond as of posting time.

The Pasig City mayor earlier said the filing of complaints against him is part of the dirty tactics of some political groups. 

"This is not the first time. Notice the interesting timing of this—at the same time that certain political groups are ramping up their political activities," Sotto said in a comment to a Facebook post.

“Mahirap ang kalaban na may bilyones, galit sa mga reporma, at handang magbayad ng proxies, facebook trolls, former at incumbent officials, etc. Pero hindi na basta-basta gumagana ang old traditional politics at dirty tactics sa Pasig,” he added.

(It’s hard to face an opponent who has billions of pesos, hates reforms, and is willing to pay proxies, Facebook trolls, former and incumbent officials, etc. But the old traditional politics and dirty tactics don't just work in Pasig anymore.)

Separate graft complaints over alleged illegal grant of discount to telecommunications provider Converge and alleged undistributed cash allowance have been filed against Sotto with the Ombudsman. 

The mayor said he has yet to receive a copy of the complaints.

Converge, for its part, said it has not been granted any form of tax discount by the Pasig City government.—Mariel Celine Serquiña/AOL, GMA Integrated News