Binay had no intention to slight House speaker, says spokesman

Vice President Jejomar Binay. CATHY MIRANDA/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Vice President Jejomar Binay merely wanted to make a comparison of public buildings constructed by the same contractor who put up the Makati City Hall Building II and had no intention of offending Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., his spokesperson said Saturday.

“We concede the point of Speaker Belmonte that the Batasang Pambansa building is a very different public building,” Binay’s spokesperson for political affairs, Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla, said in a statement.

In his televised address to the public on Thursday, in which he denied allegations of overpricing in the construction of the Makati City Hall extension and parking building, Binay said the Makati building was comparable to other world-class buildings such as the House of Representatives’ new annex and renovated North Lounge extension as well as the Iloilo Convention Center.

Binay pointed out that the Makati building cost P69,549 per square meter, lower than the P74,751 per sqm for the Batasang Pambansa annex and the P105,000 per sqm of the Iloilo Convention Center that was built with public funds coursed through Sen. Franklin Drilon who is from Iloilo.

After Binay’s address, Belmonte responded by saying that the vice president should not have compared the Batasan’s first-class building to a “garage.” The new Makati building has five floors for offices and six for parking. Its construction was begun when Binay was mayor of Makati.

“The vice president merely wanted to convey the cost per square meter comparison of different public buildings undertaken by the same contractor. A major cost factor for Makati Building II is the strengthening of the structure built beside a river, which people in offices must share with moving vehicles in an elevated parking garage,” Remulla said.

The building is situated beside the Pasig River, which made it necessary to fortify its foundation at greater cost.

The House of Representatives’ Mitra Building, the Iloilo Convention Center and the Makati parking building were all built by Hilmarc’s Construction Corp., whose officials attended the Senate hearings on the alleged corruption and overpricing attending the Makati building’s construction. They denied any irregularities in the Makati building construction.

“This is all the Vice President wanted to convey, and there was no intent to offend the Speaker,” Remulla said.