Senate President Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – A youth lawmaker on Monday bared that Senate President Franklin Drilon also has an overpriced building in Iloilo.
In a statement, Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon said Drilon has a P700-million pet project in Iloilo called the Iloilo Convention Center, which he said is more expensive than China’s Bird’s Nest, which was the venue of the 2008 Olympics.
Ridon said the Iloilo building measures 6,400 square meters worth P700 million, and that it costs P109,375 per square meter.
This is even more expensive than the Beijing National Stadium or the Bird’s Nest, famous for being the venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Ridon said.
He said the Bird’s Nest measures 254.6 thousand square meters worth $423 million or P18.8 billion (in 2008 conversion rates).
This means it is worth P73,892 per square meter, Ridon said. (In current prices, the construction cost is $463 million or P20.17 billion, or at an inflation-adjusted per square meter cost at P79,216).
“This means that the per square meter cost of the ICC is P30,149 more expensive than that of the Bird’s Nest,” Ridon said.
Ridon said Drilon allocated P200 million from his Priority Development Assistance Funds for the building. The other sources of funds are P200 million from the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority and another P200 million from the Department of Public Works and Highways. There is also a P100 million from Drilon’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) funds.
The building is being hastened to be used as one of the venues of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in 2015.
In the local scenario, the Iloilo building is also more expensive than the SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia, Ridon said.
He said the SMX measuring 46,647-square meters is worth P26,400 per square meter, or just a quarter of the per-square meter cost of Drilon’s building.
“If we match the cost of the ICC to the per square meter cost of the Bird’s Nest, the budget for the Iloilo project will appear overpriced by P191 million. Worse, if the ICC was built with the same cost per square meter of the SMX Convention Center, it will appear that it is overpriced by P531 million,” Ridon said.
Ridon filed House Resolution 1466 to investigate these alleged overpriced government infrastructure programs involving its contractor Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation (HCC), the builder of the controversial Makati parking building, which was constructed during the time of former mayor and now Vice President Jejomar Binay. The corporation is also the subject of a Senate probe on the controversial Makati building.
HR 1466 calls on the House Committee on Public Works and Highways to “conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the possible cases of corruption and overpricing involving government infrastructure projects contracted with Hilmarc’s Construction Corporation (HCC) by local and national government officials to determine and exact accountability.”
Binay and his son now Makati mayor Junjun Binay face a plunder complaint before the Ombudsman over the alleged overpricing of the P2.6 billion Makati parking building measuring 31,928 square meters, or worth P84,000 per square meters.