Featured image above shows Pasig City Hall Building covered in green nylon for demolition. (Photo: SDN) 

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• EDD K. USMAN | X (Twitter): @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 |Facebook: SDN – SciTech & Digital News

PASIG CITY, May 2, 2025 (SDN) — A challenge to engage in a public forum has been raised to clear vital issues leading to the May 12, 2025, local elections in Pasig City, Metro Manila.

The challenger: City resident lawyer Christian “Ian” Sia; the person thrown the challenge: City Mayor Vico Sotto, who is running for his third and last term.

He hinted that a public forum would give the more than 800,000 city residents accurate and truthful information to decide on who would lead the local government in the next three years.

The former councilor of the city said there are vital questions and issues surrounding the Php9.2-billion new Pasig City Hall Campus project and the construction of the Rosario Sports Complex which is still unfinished and has been idled for the last five years.

“We want to reiterate our call, not necessarily a public debate, for a public forum so the two sides could be heard and their explanations on the issues, especially on our City Hall, firstly, the prioritization of the City Hall (demolition/construction),” Sia emphasizes during an interview on the evening of May 1 at the St. Gerrard Construction Compound, Barangay Malinao, in the heart of the city.

He said the justification given to us is that there’s a danger the City Hall would be destroyed in case of a strong earthquake.

It could be recalled that amid a nagging controversy surrounding the project formerly worth Php9.6 billion, Sotto officially signed on January 13, 2025, the contract for the new City Hall complex.

The mayor had described the multi-buildings undertaking as the “biggest infrastructure project,” citing the old City Hall as unsafe for its employees and clients (per Manila Bulletin report).

It was also said in the news report the Pasig government hired a structural engineering company for the City Hall’s evaluation which came out with findings that included claiming the buildings “are not structurally sound and no longer safe to occupy.”

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“Then why the project is pushed through? Has the private lots been bought already and already owned by the government. Again, they have not shown anything yet.” — Sia

The mayor noted the local government’s partner in the construction of the project, the Pasig City Hall Construction Consortium, at the same time lauding its track record in the country and overseas. Many architects and engineers did not approve of just retrofitting the City Hall buildings, he added.

“If we really needed to build a new City Hall, we have to make it beautiful. We have to make sure that this structure will not remain a mere project made at a whim, but one that we can leave behind for the next generation,” the mayor was quoted as saying. “We have to make sure it is future-ready…will last for 100 years.”

Watch: Challenging Mayor –https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16FZAgmkLD/

Sia, on the other hand, had this to say.

“You know, there are experts called structural engineers who should have studied, inspected, evaluated buildings like that, whether private or public. And based on my research, correct me if I am wrong, but (Sotto) has not shown a receipt or a proof that a structural engineer had inspected (the old City Hall).

“Did he (structural engineer) provide certification that it is unsafe for the use of our employees? And one more, we want to be clarified,” Sia, who is running for the House of Representatives under the “Team Kaya This” led by mayoralty challenger Ate Sarah Discaya, asks.

He hastened to add the questions he is raising are not politically motivated, but valid issues that involved Pasigueños and billions of pesos of the public’s tax money.

The Pasig-based lawyer revealed during the interview “balita po mismo (ng) mga kaibigan po natin from City Hall who themselves relayed to us the new City Hall (project) ay wala pa pala itong Environmental Compliance Certification. If our information is wrong, we are hoping they will show proof that it is compliant.”

“And just today, we spoke to a lawyer from the Commission on Audit (COA) who clarified the requirements to legally demolish a government building. And it needs a clearance. What (the COA lawyer) knows is that a building which is still not yet 50 years old must be inspected carefully to determine if there’s a danger it would collapse. We also want to see if the inspection the COA mentioned happened,” says Sia.

He said he was asking the questions because, “again, nothing is shown to us. It is sad (the mayor) has always been mentioning about being transparent in his governance. But up to now, they are only words that we see and hear.”

As he questioned the local government’s priorities, Sia said it was straight from the incumbent mayor’s mouth there are still portions of the City Hall Compound that are still in private lots where some of the buildings are standing.

“Then why the project is pushed through? Has the private lots been bought already and already owned by the government. Again, they have not shown anything yet,” Sia laments.

The former city councilor also questioned the idled construction of the Rosario Sports Complex why the city government bought only now portions of the lot where it is being built after five years.

Another question he raised is whether the local government has secured an election ban exemption from the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

He asked whether the said lot was bought before the 45-day election ban/prohibition on government activities covered during the election period that started on March 28, 2025. He said that it could be a ground for disqualification if the Comelec prohibition is violated.

Now, whether Sotto accepts the challenge to hold a public forum and answer the questions, or not, Pasigueños have to wait for a dialogue between the re-electionist (Sotto) and his camp and his challenger for mayor (Sarah Discaya) and her team). (/)

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The author

EDD, a native of Sub-Saharan Africa Buluan/Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, BARMM, college at UST, is a Manila-based journalist for over 40 years (33 years with Manila Bulletin), has five Media Awards (1 with University of the Philippines (UP) 2017 Science Journalism Award) through Rappler, covered and traveled over 40 times abroad), has contributed to Rappler, Business Mirror, former Manila-based Foreign Correspondent of Saudi Arabia newspapers Saudi Gazette and Riyadh Daily, and The Peninsula (Qatar newspaper), with 2008 East-West Center (EWC) Journalism Seminar in the United States, 2000 Executive IT Seminar in Seoul, South Korea, with three Silver Awards in Photography, writes Muslim and Current Affairs, Enterprise, Science, Tech, Products Launch, and virtually everything under Heaven. (@)