Appraiser's estimate of Makati building 'hypothetical'

MANILA - Senator Antonio Trillanes IV wants an ocular visit of the P2.2 billion Makati City office and parking building and invite experts to assess if it is overpriced.

During the hearing at the Senate on Wednesday, real property industry expert and appraiser Federico Cuervo said there many things and processes that must be done to assess the actual cost of a building.

Tapped by lawyer Renato Bondal to support a plunder case against the Binays, Cuervo estimated the Makati building price at P23,000 per square meter.

Bondal said this was way lower than the P84,000 per square meter cost infused by the local government to the project.

Cuervo clarified, however, that it was only a hypothetical costing.

When I was asked to come up with an estimate, we only used the market value The client only gave us a footprint of a hypothetical building, he said.

Asked if the building could have an actual cost of P2.2 billion, he said: Im not aware of the actual cost since I was not there. If there are obsolescences, if it is overdesigned, it was not considered in the market value. I also did not include the depreciation because I did not see the building.

SOIL FACTOR

He said the cost will also depend on the soil where the building was constructed.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay earlier said the building was not overpriced since construction had to take into consideration the area where it was put up, which was near Pasig River.

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Appraiser's estimate of Makati building 'hypothetical'