Contract for Iloilo Hall of Justice met by protest

ILOILO CITY—The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is set to award a contract to repair the abandoned Iloilo Hall of Justice amid opposition from judges, lawyers and court employees who are demanding a new building instead.

Edilberto Tayao, DPWH Western Visayas director, said the retrofitting contract will be awarded to F. Gurrea Construction Inc. (FGCI), the winning bidder for the project with a budget of P50 million.

The contract was supposed to be awarded last week but judges and lawyers who attended a dialogue on Thursday raised an outcry prompting Tayao to suspend the contract awarding pending consultation with Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson.

Judges, lawyers and court employees in Iloilo earlier appealed to the government to build a new Hall of Justice to replace the existing one, which had been condemned due to damages incurred after the February 6 earthquake that hit parts of the Visayas.

They said they would feel unsafe to hold office at the Chief Justice Ramon Q. Avanceña Hall of Justice even if the building is repaired, citing results of an initial study of the DPWH that the building had structural defects.

The P200-million building was constructed in 1992 under the administration of the late President Corazon “Cory” Aquino.

The judges and court employees are demanding a new building because of dismal conditions in their temporary offices.

The courts and offices of judges, prosecutors and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) have been relocated to three separate places in Iloilo City earlier this year after the DPWH determined the building to be unsafe.

The DPWH will implement the retrofitting project based on the recommendations of the private consultancy firm PertConsult International.

Retrofitting involves major building modifications including structural changes.

The recommendations include repairing the walls on the ground floor, strengthening the wall footings, repairing  beams, putting up additional columns and reinforcing the structural frame with fiber-reinforced polymers.

Albert Canete, structural engineer of PertConsult, said during the dialogue, that if the repairs were implemented, the building could withstand a 9-magnitude earthquake.

Jose Midas Marquez, court administrator of the Supreme Court who attended the dialogue, said the decision should be “left to the experts.”

“At this point, I don’t see any reason for the Supreme Court to intervene,” said Marquez, adding that those opposing the project can file a case against it anytime.