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

PASIG CITY, May 4, 2025 (SDN) — As hot as the summer sun, the feud between the owner of Wing-An Construction & Development Corporation and the mayor of this urban jungle continues to sizzle.

The protagonists: Contractor Selwin Lao and Vico Sotto, who is running for a third term.

Their quarrel has been a staple of news reports and blogs since the day it erupted harking back to the pre-pandemic days, when the mayor and his men rushed into the contractor’s compound in Barangay Bambang for some issues that had led to court cases.

Lao, an engineer by profession, revived on Saturday his attacks on the Php9.2-billion mammoth project of Sotto, dubbed the Pasig City Hall Campus, a multi-building, multipurpose and multi-used complex, which the mayor claimed would be future-proofed, earthquake-proof as his legacy to the next generation. Sotto said the project was designed to last for “100 years”.

The engineer held a press conference with a select number of journalists and bloggers at his construction office on May 3, as he accepted the mayor’s challenge to jointly inspect the old City Hall Building which is now being demolished to pave the way for the construction of the new Pasig City Hall Campus project, previously estimated to be Php9.6 billion.

After the media conference, Nolan Ariola of Radio Veritas asked the mayor’s public information office (PIO) for reaction or comment on Lao’s statements.

“We received your request for statement po. However, this is to reiterate that the mayor will not dignify such claims with response po. Maraming salamat po,” the PIO says through Krisna Parrera.

In accepting the mayor’s challenge, the contractor, who claimed he was being harassed and being linked to another group which he denied, said he is willing to come to the City Hall on Monday, May 5, and jointly inspect the building.

“Mayor (Vic Sotto), just give me a computer (and a calculator) and I will show inside six hours (the cost of the new City Hall) that there was ‘anomaly’ in the Php9.2 billion project,” Lao, in return, dares the mayor. He has been in the construction sector for over 40 years, thus, he seemed to communicate that he knows what he is talking about.

Lao then said, if he can’t prove his allegations, the mayor can have him jailed; but if he can prove it, then Sotto should be jailed, instead.

He also says:

“Mayor, if I can prove it, I will ask for your resignation as mayor. But if I can’t prove it, I myself will asked to be jailed,” the contractor promises, speaking in the Filipino language.

The contractor also spoke about certain structural engineers he did not identify who reportedly recommended “only retrofitting” for the old City Hall, not “demolition” as now being done by a company apparently hired for the purpose. (Sotto has often said structural engineers hired by the local government did not recommend retrofitting as there are already cracks and there’s a danger the old City Hall would collapse in case of a strong earthquake.)

Lao revealed that his construction company built the “Retention Wall” in Pasig City’s Rainforest, apparently proving his company’s capabilities.

Sotto planned to have the new Pasig City Hall complex completed in six years, which he had described as the biggest project in the city.

When a reporter as the press conference was winding down mentioned that the Pasig City Hall Parking Building made up of steel was already demolished, Lao blurted out some unprintable words as he is wont to doing.

Lao was incredulous why the steel parking building was dismantled, saying the I-beams and other parts can be sold for more than 60 percent of the original cost. He said that’s a lot of money.

“Unlike concrete,” he says, “buildings made of steel have more materials that can be salvaged,” he avers.

The contractor also said that companies even offer to demolish or dismantle structures for free and even pay the owners because the arrangement is that all the usable materials that can be salvaged will go to the company hired.

He also questioned what he learned that the demolition of the old City Hall was contracted for Php250 million. Too much, he claimed, saying the company hired would be able to earn more than that from the materials salvaged from the structure, which is now covered with green nylon and scaffolding. (Another source said the Php250 million demolition cost is part of the contract for the new City Hall project.)

Lao asks: Does the contractor owns equipment or machines to be used in the demolition, or none? “What companies do is bring up their machines to start the demolition at the building’s top floors.”

In an answer to a previous story on The Daily Tribune also about Lao’s claims on the new Pasig City Hall project, previously worth Php9.6 billion that went down slightly after a bidding to Php6.2 billion, Sotto obliged with a longer rejoinder, which it seems is rather uncharacteristic of him as he usually brushes off his critics.

But it’s a nice change for sure.

Here’s what the mayor says:

“Another press release from the usual suspects? The contract has been readily available on the Pasig website. Parts of the engineering consultant’s report have been presented in reports to the public; it can also be requested via FOI (Freedom of Information) request, rather than yet another press release.”

He reminded Lao the project on the new City Hall is a two-hectare redevelopment undertaking with three towers, a large plaza, complete with a medical facility, has interior roads, among other facilities.

“While structural issues and public safety are the top concerns, we must also now maximize the City Hall compound’s land value. If Mr. Lao is sincere in his queries, I would be more than willing to tour him on-site, so that he may understand both the scope and value of this project,” the mayor emphasizes. (signed MVS for Mayor Vico Sotto)

As the old City Hall buildings are now being demolished the Pasig employees were transferred to Bridgetowne Building in the boundary of the cities of Pasig and Quezon.

One $64 question: Would Sotto accept Lao’s willingness to tour the City Hall in reply to the former’s offer to inspect the controversial building?

Let us wait in bated breath! (/)

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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), 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. (@)