New Pasig city hall complex under scrutiny

The local government of Pasig City’s P9.6 billion new city hall complex project is facing rigorous scrutiny from the local business sector amid allegations about the local government unit’s “under delivery” of public services to its more than 800,000 population, reportedly due to limited funds.

A letter was sent to the office of Mayor Vico Sotto dated 23 July 2024 asking the mayor if he believes that the Pasigueños really need the almost P10-billion new city hall facility more than the funding needs for health services, like more local government-run hospitals with ample supply of medicines and additional budget allocation for the education of the Pasig learners, such as support for school supplies and upgraded learning tools.

The letter, which was signed by one of Pasig’s well-known businessmen and regular charity benefactor named Curlee Discaya, of St. Gerrard Charity Foundation, also urged the mayor Sotto to revisit the more than nine-billion-peso project cost and consider the idea of just using a third portion (about P3.2 billion) of the total allocation for a new design and use the remaining P6.4 billion funds for public services which the Pasigueños are in dire need of.

"The fund for what I say is the greater need of Pasigueños for health care, children's education and economic assistance will not be an obstacle to your dream of a fancy project, because even a third of the P9.6-B that fund is enough to complete the modern and still magnificent new city hall complex,” Discaya, who have been awarded large-scale gov’t construction projects as quadruple contractor, said in his letter to Sotto.

Discaya also cited what he called an alleged questionable total cost estimate amounting to P9,623,100,154.64 for new city hall complex, adding that any experienced contractor, either architect or engineer, who is well-versed in price assessment for vertical construction with horizontal development can readily explain that the P9.6-B allocation for the 46,000 square meter new Pasig city hall complex, which is exactly P209,197 per square meter, is not within the norms of regular cost estimate.

“Anyone who builds large buildings, whether an architect or an engineer, knows that the cost of construction does not exceed P70,000 per square meter even if the materials used are of high quality,” said Discaya.

He specifically mentioned in his letter that the cost of the project preliminary and detailed design alone, which the Pasigueños will pay a whopping amount of P855,386,656.35, is more than enough to fund the building of another local gov’t-run hospital with sufficient supply of medicines for the city’s indigents.

As he expressed full support to Sotto’s administration, Discaya offered to provide the local gov’t with detailed and preliminary engineering design in case the mayor would consider on pursuing new project concept with lowered cost, instead of the more than nine-billion-peso new city hall complex.

"But we will not accept the payment of P855,386,656 for the said design, instead we will donate it as a supplement to the construction fund of at least three modern hospitals with enough medicine for the needy patients," he added.

It was on 2 June 2023 when Sotto unveiled, during the city’s 450th founding anniversary, the new city hall complex project which, he said, is part of a ten-year comprehensive plan that covers beyond his nine-year-three-term limit.

Sotto said that the initial plan of the city government was to retrofit the old city hall buildings, but structural experts have reportedly advised the mayor against it because the cost for the rehabilitation works would be ‘very expensive.’

According to the mayor, the construction of the complex, which will take more than two years, would be transparent, well-planned and ‘future proof,’ which means that the facility could last for centuries.

In a statement last 21 May 2024, Sotto said that while the city government has approved a P9.6-B budget for the construction of the new city hall facility, “the said amount is not the final project cost because the contract price might be reduced during the bidding.”