Makati City Hall II may have been over-designed to hide overprice

Senator Aquilino Koko Pimentel III. INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines While it has turned its attention to the Makati Science High School, the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee plans to return later to the topic of the Makati City Hall II parking and office building to tackle allegations of over-design, as found by technical experts, according to its chairman Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III.

Members of the subcommittee, at its hearing on the Makati City transactions when Vice President Jejomar Binay was still its mayor on Thursday, indicated that the alleged over-design of the P2.28 billion Makati City Hall II building could be one reason behind its suspicions of overpricing.

Pimentel said on Sunday in a phone interview that he wanted to discuss the matter further because without proper guidelines on defining and discovering over-design, this could be a loophole that might be exploited to hide overpricing.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano earlier said over-design could either result in waste because of unnecessary features, even if there was no corruption, or it could be a way of making money because of under-delivery, or not constructing the building according to the specifications and then pocketing the excess funds.

A team of quantity surveyors tapped by the Senate found indications that the parking building was extremely over-designed, according to appraiser Federico Cuervo, who was asked to put together the team.

Makati City officials, as well Binay, who was the mayor when the Makati City Hall II building contract was signed and implemented, have insisted that the construction of the parking and office building was aboveboard. Binay and his son, the incumbent Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin Junjun Binay, are facing a plunder complaint over the buildings construction.

Pimentel has directed the issuance of a subpoena, requested by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, for the signed, as-built and Autocad plans for the Makati City Hall II Building from its contractor Hilmarcs Construction Corporation.

This was after Cuervo told the subcommittee on Thursday that the team of quantity surveyors he was asked to put together to estimate the quantified value of the Makati City Hall II parking building faced a lot of challenges because of incomplete information.

Still, the quantity surveyors, working with what they had, found that the building was extremely over-designed, especially the foundation, said Cuervo.

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Makati City Hall II may have been over-designed to hide overprice