MANILA, Philippines — What extravagant?
President Rodrigo Duterte justified Tuesday the P45 million Southeast Asian (SEA) Games cauldron.
“You know, there can never be corruption in that situation because you commission a national artist [Bobby] Mañosa,” Duterte said in a hastily called press briefing in Malacañang Tuesday night.
President Rodrigo Duterte holds a press briefing in Malacañang on Tuesday night, November 20, 2019. (NESTOR CORRALES/INQUIRER.net)
Senator Franklin Drilon earlier questioned the cost of the cauldron, which he said was priced at P50 million, as “unnecessary extravagance.”
Drilon has said that the cauldron’s design alone cost P4.4 million.
“It is the product of a mind. You cannot estimate how much nalugi ka because this is the rendition of the mind of the creator. Kung iyan ang singil niya, eh ‘di sabihin niya ‘wag mong bilhin kung ayaw mo. Iyan ang presyo ko,” Duterte said.
“You cannot debate with a painter. You create a symbolism of the athletic activity. That is the mind of… Walang extravagance diyan,” he added.
The President then hit back at Drilon for the allegedly overpriced Iloilo Convention Center (ICC).
“Bakit ‘yung coliseum niya doon ganun kalaki?” Duterte asked, referring to the ICC.
(Why is his coliseum that big?)
“Bakit ‘di niya diyan liit-liitan? Bakit ganun kalaki?” he added.
(Why didn’t he make it smaller? Why is it that big?)
Drilon earlier said the multi-million cauldron could have built at least 50 classrooms.
But Duterte slammed Drillon and said the funds used to build the ICC could have been used to build roads instead.
“Magsabi ka na ilang eskwelahan na ang magawa niyan. Eh ‘yang coliseum mo ilan ring kilometro ang magawa niyan? Susmaryosep,” he said.
(You said that it could have built many schools. How about your coliseum? How many roads could have been built? My goodness.)
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano earlier justified the cauldron, saying it is “cheaper” than Singapore’s P62-million piece.
Cayetano, who also chairs the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc), said the cauldron is “a work of art.”
“While some people may see a cauldron, we see a monument, we see the athletes, we see the burning flames that represent hope and the fighting spirit,” he said.
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