Drilon on accuser: ‘He’s a dud’

Senate President Franklin Drilon INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senate President Franklin Drilon laughed off his accuser’s claim that the construction cost of the Iloilo Convention Center (ICC) was only pegged at P200 million, saying the amount was just for the second phase of the project and not the total cost of the construction.

“He’s a dud,” Drilon told reporters on Wednesday, echoing Senator Miriam Defensor- Santiago’s remark against former provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada, who alleged that the P700-million ICC project was overpriced.

After admitting that he had no evidence to prove his allegation of overpricing, Mejorada went to the Senate blue ribbon committee on Wednesday to submit a 16-page memorandum and a copy of the deed of donation between the Department of Tourism and Megaworld Corp., which purportedly showed that the cost of the construction of the ICC was only pegged at P200 million.

But Drilon said the P200 million in the deed of donation was the contribution of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) in the building construction.
“And in fact, the P200 million has not yet been used. That’s for the second phase, for the finishing,” Drilon pointed out.

“The first phase is worth P500 million sourced from the General Appropriations Act is about to be finished,” Drilon said. “And from the information I gathered from the media and Iloilo, the DPWH is about to bid out the second phase using the P200 million that was mentioned in the deed of donation as a contribution of Tieza for the construction of the building.”

“That’s not the total cost of the building. There is nothing in the deed of donation that says that it’s the total cost of the building. So to media, I will address this, yun ba ay bibigyan pa ng pansin. As Miriam says, he’s a dud,” Drilon added.

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