Yesterday, I had the opportunity to listen to a lively conversation among an engineer from the University of the Philippines, some government employees, and a number of Pasig City residents. Their topic was the construction and computation for then Senate President Tito Sotto’s new Senate building and reelected Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto’s five-star City Hall.

Today’s column is on the formal start of construction for both historic structures. The succeeding column shall be on the computation for the Senate building, and the third shall be on the implication of the question asked by the UP engineer of the residents of Pasig: which would you prefer — a costly new and sturdy city hall or a splendorous five-star hotel?

Construction of the New Senate Building in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City formally started on 18 March 2019 with a ground-breaking ceremony led by Senate President Sotto III. Also present were Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairperson, Senate committee on accounts; and Loren Legarda, chairperson, Senate committee on finance.

The 40-month construction of the new building was to be completed in 2022.

As of today, it is exactly six years, two months and 24 days ago that the construction of the new Senate building was started in March 2019.

Senate President Chiz Escudero on 11 June 2024 said the Senate may not be able to move to its new building even in 2026 because of the many questions being asked about its cost.

He suspended the construction of the building due to its aggregated cost of P23 billion, which he considered “shocking and in bad taste.” He said they would look into how the cost could be reduced.

Initially budgeted at P8.9 billion, Escudero revealed the building cost ballooned to P13 billion, plus an additional P10 billion required for its completion, bringing the total to P23 billion.

“For me, it’s really surprising and a bit hard to swallow,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the other side of glowing-at-night Metro Manila, is historic Pasig City whose newly reelected Mayor Vico Sotto is building a splendorous new City Hall, reportedly from the one-billion-a-year savings of the city administration, on a sprawling eight-hectare property in Oranbo, Pasig at a cost of P9.2 billion

The construction of the structure was set to begin after Mayor Sotto officially signed the contract on 13 January 2025.

The project was initiated after it was reported in 2019 that there were cracks and damage found in the old City Hall.

According to a hired structural engineering firm, “the Pasig City Hall buildings were no longer structurally sound and no longer safe to occupy.”

Mayor Sotto said: “If we need a new City Hall, let us make it beautiful. Let us ensure that this structure will not just be a one-time project but something we can pass on to future generations of Pasigueños.”