A local contractor has revealed anomalies in the construction of the P9.6 billion new Pasig City Hall building.

In the first place, Selwyn Lao—a structural engineer who operates a construction firm in Pasig City—questioned the unsolicited proposal by a Malaysian firm, MTD Philippines Inc., which conducted the study and then later became the winning bidder of the said project.

“Here, the unsolicited proposal is already a failure. So, it turns out that this is the one that made the proposal and also won the bidding—it's over, it's an anomaly,” Lao told DAILY TRIBUNE in Filipino during an interview over the weekend.

Lao stressed that no contractor can catch up with them on this project because they need six months to study before they can join the bidding.

"If they were only given 45 days, what does that mean? So, you are already favoring MTD. So, it turns out that the one making the decision, the one with the recommendation on what to do with the project, is MTD, and they are also the contractor," Lao added.

Lao also said that the Malaysian firm has no construction license in the Philippines. It also does not have a withholding tax from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as it has no workers.

"They can't really produce that PCAB [Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board] license. Secondly, withholding tax, when they declare that, did they submit anything to the BIR because this is a requirement? If not, they're finished, Mayor Vico Sotto is finished, he shouldn’t speak anymore,” he said.

He questioned the preliminary and detailed engineering design, saying P855 million was too high by Philippine standards.

"You know, this should only be P50 million, but how did it become P855 million? Where did they base that on?" Lao asked.

Given his long years of experience in the construction business, Lao said that he can estimate a building in only two hours.

"In the Philippines, a 5-star hotel can be built at P75,000 to P85,000 per square meter. But why did this city hall building cost P220,000? Where did they get that basis?" he asked.

"One more thing, a 5-star hotel cannot be bid on without details, but where are the details here? Okay, let’s say the marble, let’s say the first-class Italian marble, you can buy that for P12,000 or P15,000 per square meter. Actually, that's expensive, it’s really for 5-star hotels. So, if that's the case, it should only be around P75,000 or P85,000 per square meter. What materials did they use, gold?"

Lao also said that even a Japanese firm conducting a detailed engineering design would only cost around US$10 million or P500 million.

"Why is their consultancy, their detailed engineering design, already at P865 million?" he said.

"My question is, this contract is already there, this is just a suggestion, but they’re already at P865 million. It's because the one who gave the unsolicited proposal is MTD Philippines, Inc. Automatically, there’s an anomaly because they’re the ones who won," he added.

Lao said that the local government should conduct their own studies, not from a foreign construction firm.

"Because where did the city mayor’s office get the price for their city hall building at P9.6 billion? They should have their own studies inside. What’s coming out now is that MTD, a foreign company, did the study," he said.

Lao said that there must be a Swiss challenge when MTD has given its proposal for the city hall building project.

"What that means is when MTD prices it at P9.6 billion, there should be a Swiss challenge. Which company can offer P8 billion, and they win automatically, or MTD needs to adjust to P8 billion," he said.

"That’s the policy for this kind of proposal. But since, supposedly, Mayor Vico Sotto and City Administrator Jeronimo Manzanero are pretending it’s a bidding, they used MTD's price and then only gave contractors 45 days to join the bidding. What they’re doing is squeezing them so that no one can join," he added.

If given a chance to participate in the bidding, Lao said he could offer only P5 billion for this project.

"I will fight this with P5 million, MTD has no choice but to lower it to P5 million. But they didn’t do it, so here alone, it’s really corruption. Honestly, I myself will challenge Vico Sotto with P5 billion for this project," he added.

Another local contractor has questioned the P9.6 billion price tag for a new city hall complex proposed by Mayor Sotto.

In an open letter, Curlee Discaya, president of St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor and Development Corporation, urged Sotto to cut the project cost by two-thirds.

Discaya, a philanthropist who also runs a charitable foundation, said the money could be better spent on health care, education, and other social services.

He explained that the estimated cost of P209,197 per square meter for the 46,000-square-meter complex is excessive.

"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-billion is enough to finish the modern and still magnificent new city hall complex," Discaya said.

"Everyone who builds large buildings, whether architects or engineers, knows that the cost of construction does not exceed P70,000 per square meter even if the materials are of high quality and luxurious," he added.

Earlier, Sotto said that the computations of costing per square meter are both “inaccurate and misleading.”

"This is not surprising considering that your source was a party with a clear conflict of interest. It seems that the allegations in their press release were not fact-checked,” he said.

The mayor also explained that as a project under the “design and build” modality of procurement, the detailed cost estimates for the new Pasig City Hall are currently being finalized before the contract signing.

"This project will be implemented with utmost transparency. The detailed cost estimates will be published and made available to the general public upon finalization and contract signing," Sotto, who is running for his third and final term as local chief executive in the upcoming midterm elections, added.