Gatchalian proposes ‘briefing session’ on new Senate building’s costs

MANILA, Philippines — To dispel the confusion and misunderstanding surrounding the New Senate Building (NSB) in Taguig, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian floated the idea of conducting a “briefing session” for all 23 senators regarding the establishment’s cost.

Speaking at a virtual press conference on Friday, Gatchalian noted the need to consider ways to make NSB’s value reasonable. He said it would also be better to tackle the issues hounding the establishment as a body.

“Ako… ang gusto ko kasi move forward eh. So ang maganda dyan magkaroon ng isang briefing session para maintindihan ng lahat ng senador — all 23, kung nasaan na yung building, kung paano magtipid – kasi ako naniniwala [na] dapat magtipid at kung saan pwede pang mag-cut para maging reasonable naman ‘yung cost ng building,” Gatchalian told reporters.

(For me… I want to move forward. So I think it would be best to have a briefing session for all 23 senators to understand where the building is at and how we can save money. I believe that we need to save money and that there are ways to cut the building’s cost to a more reasonable rate.)

His remarks came days after Senators Nancy Binay and Alan Peter Cayetano had a heated discussion over the supposed ballooning cost of NSB.

The barbs resulted in name-calling, personal attacks, and even accusations that Binay was providing questions to some media personnel to discredit her fellow senators.

During the Senate panel on accounts’ Wednesday hearing, Cayetano insisted that the building’s cost would total to a whopping P23 billion. Binay, for her part, cited the Department of Public Works and Highways’ data which showed that it would only reach about P21 billion.

“Mas maganda siguro na pag-usapan muna namin as a body para ma-brief muna ‘yung mga senador at kung merong mga hindi pa… o meron pang mga kulang na information then ipatawag natin yung DPWH para sumagot sila sa detalye,” said Gatchalian.

(It’s probably better that we discuss it as a body first so that the senators can be briefed first, and if there is still missing information, then we will call the DPWH so they can answer in detail.)

“Kasi nga ang nag-approve nito, body eh, so importante as a body nag-uusap din kami. At importante rin na yung mga senador naiintindihan nila kung ano ‘yung ina-approve nila every year,” he added.

(It was the body that approved it, so it’s important as a body that we also discuss this. It is also important that the senators understand what they are approving every year.)

The issues surrounding NSB first erupted after Senate President Chiz Escudero ordered a review of the establishment’s cost.

This was after Cayetano informed Escudero about an apparent “dramatic increase” in the building’s construction fee from an initial budget of P8 billion to a projected P23.3 billion.

READ: Escudero wants P23-billion new Senate building reviewed: Parang OA