IGINIIT nina Senate President Vicente Sotto III at Senador Panfilo Lacson na hindi dapat ang Senado at sa halip ang Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) ang tanungin ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte kaugnay sa bidding process sa itatayong bagong Senate building sa Taguig City.
Ito ay kasunod ng batikos ni Duterte sa mga senador kung bakit ang construction firm na sinasabing may kaugnayan sa overpriced Makati City building at Iloilo Convention Center ang napili bilang contractor sa bagong P8.9-billion Senate infrastructure.
“It’s best if he asks the DPWH because we assigned everything to them. Design lang ang sa Senate,” saad ni Sotto.
Sinegundahan din ni Lacson, chairman ng Senate accounts committee, ang pahayag ni Sotto at iginiit na ang DPWH ang nagsagawa ng bidding para sa konstruksyon.
“President Duterte has been grossly misinformed, hence he barked up the wrong tree. He should have asked his own Department of Public Works and Highways, being the procuring and implementing agency of the project,” paliwanag ni Lacson.
“It was the DPWH that prepared the Program Of Works, the Terms of Reference and all bid documents, conducted the bidding, awarded, prepared the contract, signed the contract, and issued the notice to proceed, including the cost of the building. The Senate representative was only an observer during the bidding process,” dagdag pa ng senador.
Katunayan, sinabi ni Lacson na binalaan pa niya ang contractor sa harap ng DPWH officials laban sa pagbibigay ng SOP o suhol o anomang iregularidad.
Nanalo ang Hilmarc Construction Corporation sa bidding para sa construction ng bagong Senate building sa loob ng 1.8-hectare Navy Village sa Taguig City.
Sinimulan ang actual construction noong February 2020. (DANG SAMSON-GARCIA)
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