Where the buck stops

Halting the progress of the P23-billion Taguig Citadel that will house the Senate revealed that even some members of the chamber were scandalized by the jump in the cost of the structure from P8 billion when it broke ground in 2019.

Attempts to rationalize the astronomic jump in the cost of the project came from some senators who said that the P8 billion was for the first of three phases and the amount floated was the final estimate to complete it.

During the inauguration of the building’s construction, however, there was no mention of project phases and then-Senate President Tito Sotto even boasted of a P500 million savings in the final contracted amount.

The Senate building project is with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) which is also having difficulty in explaining the spike in the cost.

The lead person in the project, Engr. Soledad Florencio, imparted some intriguing facts starting with the orders coming from the Senate despite the building being considered an undertaking of the DPWH.

The DPWH official said that as a project implementor, the DPWH only follows Senate specifications but under the law, changes must not raise the cost by 10 percent more. As such, the tripling of the final tag could be a violation of the law.

She revealed that in “some” cases, deviations to the original project plan were requested by the Senate.

“For instance, one floor was originally intended to have offices but the Senate Coordinating Team, wanted it as a storage room,” she said.

“We follow orders. It is similar to building a house, you wanted to make changes, thus, it is not the contractor or supervisor but the owner who will have the final say,” she explained.

It is the responsibility of the DPWH, however, to inform the Senate that changes “may lead to delays and additional expenses,” she pointed out. She also indicated that the DPWH team in the project has not observed any problems with the performance of the contractor, Hilmarc’s Construction Corp. (HCC).

There may be an interplay of local politics in the project as Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, whose family dominates Taguig City politics, and Sen. Nancy Binay, who is the daughter of former Makati Mayor Jojo Binay and coordinating team head, are the main protagonists in the building issue. Still, public attention has been mainly directed at the perceived opulence of the Senate building.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte asked the questions that the public is aching to raise to the senators in one of his “Talk to the People” weekly nocturnal briefings.

“May I ask the senators if it is true that Hilmarc’s is the contractor of the new Senate building being constructed? Is this the same Hilmarc contractor that built the Iloilo Convention Center and the Makati City Hall Building II that the Senate also investigated?” Duterte asked.

He asked the senators to be transparent in the building’s construction.

The standard reply of members of the Senate then was that it was the DPWH that prepared “the Program Of Works, the Terms of Reference and all bid documents, conducted the bidding, awarded, prepared the contract, signed the contract, and issued the notice to proceed, including the cost of the building.”

Based on the revelation of the DPWH official that the agency is merely taking orders from the Senate, the ultimate accountability is with the senators. The bottom line question: Who will be bold enough to probe the probers?