WITH ALMOST ALL THE SENATORS IN favor of the plan to put up a new Senate building, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has volunteered to head an ad hoc body that would supervise the construction.

Santiago, vice chair of the Senate committee on finance, told Senate President Manuel Villar she was ideal for the project since she had no plans of running for reelection in 2010.

Nearly all the senators are in agreement that the Senate should have its own building.

The building it is occupying in Pasay City is actually owned by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), which charges a monthly rental of P7.78 million.

The Senate pays another P500,000 to rent parking space, bringing the total monthly rent it pays GSIS to P8.29 million, or around P100 million a year.

This does not include the rent for the satellite offices of some senators which amounts to an additional P500,000 a month.

“Considering all these expenses, it would be reasonable to explore the feasibility of constructing a new Senate building,” Santiago wrote Villar.

Although the senators had different ideas on where a new Senate building should be located, they agreed it should be somewhere near the House of Representatives in Quezon City.