ILOILO City – Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. denied that the multimillion-peso capitol ground redevelopment of the provincial government of Iloilo was overpriced.
In fact, he said, the provincial government was able to save money through proper bidding.
The project had four packages: 1) construction of a multilevel parking area; 2) ground redevelopment from the provincial capitol to Casa Real; 3) redevelopment of the area surrounding the Western Visayas Regional Museum; and 4) power station
According to Defensor, the first package had an Approved Budget Contract (ABC) of P196 million but through bidding, this dropped to P185 million, thus making the provincial government save P11 million.
For the second package, the provincial government managed to save P1 million, said Defensor. The ABC was P70 million but this dropped to P69 million through bidding.
On the other hand, bidding resulted to a P2-million drop in the budget for the third package – from an ABC of P54 million to P52 million.
Another P2 million was saved in the fourth package which originally had an ABC of P20 million, said Defensor.
The provincial capitol ground redevelopment was designed by renowned Filipino architect Paolo Alcazaren.
“The design is not good only for 10 years or 15 years or 100 years,” said Defensor. “Kon maghalin na ako, ibilin sang akon administrasyon ang isa ka capitol park nga handumon sang tanan. It will stand as a pride of the province of Iloilo.”
Defensor is on his third consecutive term as governor. He is barred by law from seeking a fourth term and previously announced he would be quitting politics after wrapping up his current term.
He assured Ilonggos that the project was graft-free.
“Bisan P1 wala ako nagapangayo. Amo na nga indi mahal ang aton kontrata. Wala sang patong, wala sang overprice,” stressed Defensor.
According to Provincial Administrator Raul Banias, the target date of the project’s completion is the first quarter of 2019./PN
