New Senate building construction to continue amid cost review —Cayetano

The construction of the New Senate Building (NSB) in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City will continue despite Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero's order to review its increased costs, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano said Wednesday.

In a Facebook live, Cayetano, who recommended the review to Escudero, explained that the Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the NSB project had already been bade out, which would allow the continuous construction of the building.

"Ito po ay ongoing, pwede naman po tuloy yung construction diyan na nire-review namin, wala pong conflict 'yun. So we're just looking at the documentation, we're looking at 'yung mga 'why' and 'what,' pero tuloy-tuloy po ‘yan para walang delay," Cayetano said.

(This is ongoing. The construction may continue while we review; there's no conflict. We're just looking at the documentation, the "why" and "what," but it will continue so there will be no delay.)

Phase 3 of the project, to which an additional P10 billion has been allocated, is what is currently on hold, he explained.

According to Cayetano, the P10 billion was not yet bade out.

In the letter that Cayetano sent to Escudero and was shared to the media on Wednesday, the cost of each phase is as follows:

• Phase I for the core and shell: P8.9 billion
• Phase II for the fit-out: P2.5 billion
• Phase III for the works to finish/complete: P10.33 billion

"It is the additional P10 billion that we are reviewing now. And we will get people with expertise to help us here," he said.

Cayetano also refuted allegations that the issues on the NSB are mere "speculations," noting that the review was conducted by the Senate secretariat, the staff members of the Committee on Accounts, and his own staff.

"Y’ung iba po sa kanila, very, very capable po, may abogado, may engineer, na from the start po nandiyan sila sa project. So hindi po ito bulong-bulong or haka-haka, lahat po ito ay official, mga reports, mga documents. But voluminous po, napakarami kaya we're getting through, we're sorting through it," he said.

(Some of them are very, very capable. There are lawyers, engineers who have been with the project from the start. So this is not whispers or speculation. These are all official reports, documents. But they're voluminous, there's a lot, so we're sorting through it.)

The lawmaker also disclosed that they conducted a series of briefings with involved individuals, including the teams of former Committee on Accounts chairpersons, Senator Nancy Binay and former senator Panfilo Lacson.

Despite these findings, Cayetano urged the public not to speculate because what they ae doing is just a "review."

"Again, we are more than willing to listen to everyone...ang hinihingi ko lang po, let's not speculate...Nagre-review lang po tayo [what we're only asking is, let's not speculate. We're just coducting a review] ," he said.

"The goal is to have the best functional, iconic Senate building that will be a symbol of our democratic process of the will of the Filipino people at the best quality sa tamang [at the right[ cost.  That will be a challenge now kasi nga because of what is contained sa memo. But we will do our best, especially hindi pa naman nabi-bid or napo-procure ang P10 billion [ since the P10 billion has not yet been bade out or procured]," he explained.

The following causes of delay in the NSB project were enumerated in Cayetano's letter to Escudero:

• The construction was "riddled" with deviations with the terms of reference and variation orders, an example of which is the lack of waterproofing in the tiles as well as the failure to observe the proper ceiling heights
• The constructor failed to follow technical specifications and the Department of Public Works and Highways, as the project manager, failed to question and call the attention of the contractor
• The DPWH had procured items not yet for implementation or the inverse there were items not yet procured but already needed for implementation
• Materials shown by the DPWH for approval to the senators for procurement were way beyond the indicated budget for such materials. Hence, the materials were always rejected
• Lack of coordination between the DPWH Bureau of Design, which approves the new design for portions with variation or deviation, and the agency's Unified Project Management Offices, which implements and procure the items in the new design, causing the documents required or the approvals needed to "sleep in the DPWH."
• With the deviations that are yet to be rectified, the Senate Coordination Team would not approve payment for the variation orders issued by the DPWH as a means to compel the contractor and the DPWH. A Slow Down Order was issued by DPWH since payments were not made.

According to Cayetano, this has placed the Senate in a difficult position as it has to choose between paying for the contractor's/DPWH's mistake in order to gain time, or withhold payment in order to compel the rectification but at the cost of timeliness.

The conduct of inquiry, Cayetano said in the letter, was meant to identify problems, immediate or otherwise, in the project and compel the DPWH to question, evaluate, and rectify the problems that may still be corrected at this point.

The DPWH's actions, he said, will be the decisive factor on whether the DPWH or the contractor, HillMarc's Construction Corporation, will implement the remaining portion of the project which has an approved budget of P10.33 billion but is yet to be awarded.

Further recommendations made by Cayetano were to compel the DPWH to create a high level liaison team for the project and engage a third party construction management team. — BM, GMA Integrated News