BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila News Bureau Chief
MANILA – Kabataan party-list’s Rep. Terry Ridon won’t apologize for seeking an investigation on the construction of the Iloilo Convention Center in Iloilo City.
In a privilege speech at the House of Representatives yesterday, Ridon said his filing of a resolution calling for the probe “was not a personal attack against the Senate President.”
It was a “legitimate move” to ensure transparency and accountability, Ridon stressed.
He delivered the privilege speech after Senate President Franklin Drilon supposedly bullied him in a social gathering on Saturday night.
Ridon said he was sorry if his call for transparency gave Drilon “sleepless nights” but stressed he won’t apologize “for asking hard, tough and inconvenient questions” with respect to the Ilonggo senator’s pet project.
“I will not apologize for asking whether the bidding was rigged to favor Hilmarc’s Construction Corp. I will not apologize for asking whether the Iloilo Convention Center is overpriced,” Ridon said.
These were not personal insults to the Senate President but “fair and considered questions” on the Iloilo Convention Center, said Ridon.
The project was publicly launched in 2012, and construction is being hastened for it to be finished in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ministerial meetings in 2015.
Ridon also wondered how the project went to Hilmarc’s when it failed to participate in the first competitive bidding.
“How (did) the project (become) a negotiated contract? I cannot find any document showing that there had been a second failed competitive bidding, which is a requirement for negotiated contracts under the law,” he said.
Drilon had denied influencing the bidding process for the Iloilo Convention Center.
On July 8, 2014, he announced that P100 million had been infused to the project through the Disbursement Acceleration Program. But he said he endorsed the fund to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
On Sunday, DPWH regional director Edilberto Tayao defended Drilon, saying the bidding process was above board.
Tayao also denied there was overpricing. He said the total floor area of the convention center is 11,693 square meters, not 6,400 as Ridon erroneously claimed.
“The project only costs P63,800 per square meter, not P109,375 per square meter,” Tayao clarified.
In House Resolution No. 1466, Ridon said the P700-million Iloilo Convention Center is possibly overpriced, and may even be more expensive – on a per square meter valuation – than China’s Bird’s Nest Stadium, site of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“Kung saan-saan pa nila ikinukumpara. Beyond compare ‘yan…we cannot compare one area to the other area,” said Tayao.
Drilon allocated P200 million of his 2013 Priority Development Assistance Fund for the construction of the convention center.
Other sources of funds included the P200-million from the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority and another P200 million from DPWH.
Drilon said he is open to any investigation into the convention center./PN
