“Naniniwala po ba kayo na kailangan ng mga Pasigueño ang mahigit na siyam na bilyong pisong City Hall Complex?”
— Curlee Discaya of St. Gerrard Construction Foundation, Inc.
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(SDN) — One of Metro Manila’s top businessmen, who is also a philanthropist, has questioned the price tag worth Php9.6 billion of an ambitious plan for a new Pasig City Hall complex.
Curlee Discaya of St. Gerrard Charity Foundation, Inc. lamented the mammoth amount, suggesting that the money, or at least part of it, could be used to improve health services, provide fund for education, help residents set up business, among other uses.
Owner of St. Gerrard Construction (SGC) General Contractor and Development Corporation based in the city, Discaya, a native of Bicol Region, wrote a letter to Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, which his office received at 9:23 a.m. on July 23. The businessman-philanthropist expressed his sentiments as a fellow Pasigueño who, apparently, wants nothing but the best for the city and its residents.
He asked Sotto to reconsider the cost of the project and put part of the money to other undertakings for the benefit of Pasigueños.
“Naniniwala po ba kayo na kailangan ng mga Pasigueño ang mahigit na siyam na bilyong pisong… City Hall Complex?” he starts off his letter. Discaya placed the exact price at Php9,632,100,154.64.
“Keysa dagdag na ospital, o health center, modernong kagamitan nito at gamot ng mga pasyenteng hindi kayang itawid ng kanilang arawang kita ang panglunas sa kanilang sakit?”
(Translation: Do you believe that Pasigueños need a City Hall Complex amounting to over Php9.6 billion? Instead of additional hospital or health center with modern equipment and medicines for patients who cannot afford with just their daily wage the cure for their illness?)
“Sa sinabi ko pong nakapanlulumo ang sobrang mataas na cost estimate ng sampung items ng proyekto para sa design and build services na umaabot ng halos sampung bilyong-piso ay ang Pasigueños na po ang may husga kung nagmalabis po ako sa pagtaya,” says Discaya.
(Translation: In what I said is a depressing very high cost-estimate of 10 items of the project for design and build services reaching around Php10 billion, Pasigueños may judge if I made an over-estimate.)
It can be recalled that Sotto, son of celebrity couple Vic Sotto and Connie Reyes, announced the plan on July 2, 2023, to build the complex dubbed the Pasig City Hall Campus during the celebration of the city’s 450th Founding Anniversary.
The mayor was quoted as saying the Pasig City Hall Campus’s conceptual design includes, among others, being “future-proof” with open and green spaces for citizens, evacuation halls, senior citizen halls, hub for technology, earthquake-proof structures, a fountain, and food stalls.
“This may be the biggest project in the history of Pasig City. So, I need your help and support,” Sotto was quoted by Inquirer.net. He envisions the new complex to last up to 100 years.
In another report on politiko.com.ph on May 21, 2024, the mayor acknowledged the Php9.6-billion tag price for the project.
But he said in the report that it was not yet the final price, adding it was just the budget approved by the city government. He said the actual price contract for the project could be lower, depending on the amount that bidders will submit.
Sotto said the project was “well-thought out, well-planned” as he assured its over two years of construction would be transparent.
As he presented the plan to his constituents who attended the evening celebration, he said as gleaned from his YouTube channel that the initial plan was to retrofit the old City Hall Building.
Instead, Sotto said, structural experts the city government hired to determine its structural integrity dissuaded him from doing so because the building already has many cracks, its beams were not strong enough anymore, among other findings, and that rehabilitating it would entail a “very expensive” operation.
Discaya asks Sotto to reconsider project’s price tag
On the other hand, Discaya assured the mayor of his support for his programs.
“Mayor, we support your programs because, like you, we also love Pasig and Pasigueños. That’s the reason I wrote you, and my only wish is to help you come up with a meaningful decision.
“The truth is our construction company is ready to draft for the local government a detailed engineering design also for a modern City Hall, for free. Instead, the more than Php855 million amount to pay for the preliminary design, we should donate it and add to the funds for building even three modern hospitals,” he suggests.
“The fund for what I say is the greater need of Pasigueños for healthcare, children’s education, and economic assistance will not be an obstacle to your dream of a fancy project, because even a third of the Php9.6 billion is enough to finish the modern and still magnificent new city hall complex,” Discaya says.
He called on the mayor to rethink the project’s cost and trim it down to a third of the total budget approved to around Php3.2 billion for a new project design, then use the bigger remaining amount of Php6.4 billion to fund public services.
Discaya pointed out that any experienced contractor well-versed in price assessment for vertical construction with horizontal development can easily see that the allocation amounting to Php9.6 billion for the planned 46,000 square meter city hall complex is beyond the regular cost estimate.
“Everyone who builds large buildings, whether architects or engineers, knows that the cost of construction does not exceed Php70,000 per square meter even if the materials are of high quality and luxurious,” the businessman of Pasig City explains.
Discaya said he is in business and owns a big construction company and already has years of experience in building big structures, whether government or private project, as he seemingly indicated he has the capability and knows what he is talking about. (✓)