Sen. Nancy Binay —Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Nancy Binay challenged Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Saturday to publicly discuss the issues that he and Senate President Francis Escudero have raised about the new Senate building that is being built in Taguig City.
“If [Cayetano] wants it, we can face the media to talk about this so that we will really have transparency and for the people to hear the answers to his questions,” a combative Binay said in an interview with radio dwIZ.
“Next week, I will free up my schedule. I will invite both [of them] for us to discuss this matter,” said the senator, who had supervised the project from July 2022 until Cayetano replaced her as chair of the Senate committee on accounts last month.
READ: Cayetano explains delay in construction of new Senate building
According to her, she will also invite former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who initiated the project in 2017, to help her explain the complexities in finishing the 11-story, four-tower structure.
She bewailed that Escudero and Cayetano have been insinuating that there could be irregularities in the project despite the fact that neither of the two had personally seen the construction site at the Philippine Navy Village.
READ: Nancy Binay hits gossip, fake news about new Senate building
Escudero, who took over the chamber’s top post on May 20 after mounting a leadership coup that removed Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, said that he found the cost of the building “too excessive” after its initial budget of P8.9 billion supposedly rose to P23.3 billion.
This prompted him to suspend the construction as he tasked Cayetano to review the multibillion-peso project.
“I’m not angry,” Binay stressed. “I’m actually more of ‘puzzled’ because they made those pronouncements without us talking about it. They have not even visited the construction for the new Senate building, but they issued statements as if they are knowledgable about it.”
“It would have been better if we met and sat down so that I could answer their questions. We could have exchanged notes and have a smooth turn over,” she said.
When asked why Escudero had been harping on the Senate building immediately after he became Senate president, Binay said she did not want to speculate about his real intention.
“We have a Viber group. It was easy for him to just message me,” she said as she corrected Escudero’s claim that the building has no parking space.
Binay said their future home was actually designed to have a three-level basement parking enough for more than 1,000 vehicles.