ShareThisCited for alleged overpriced Iloilo convention center
QUEZON CITY – Another plunder charge has been filed against Senate President Franklin Drilon for the alleged P487.8-million overprice in the construction of the Iloilo Convention Center (ICC).
Former Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada Jr. filed the complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Also included in the complaint were Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson and six other government officials and private individuals.
Hilmarcs Construction Corp. (HCC), the contractor that built the controversial Makati City Parking Building II, was also named in the complaint along with its president Efren Canlas.
The respondent officials are also being accused of dishonesty and grave misconduct as well as violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Government Procurement Reform Act.
An earlier plunder case was filed against Drilon, Jimenez and Singson also in connection with the alleged overpriced construction of the ICC.
Drilon mmediately branded the allegations concerning the Iloilo Convention Center (ICC) made by his former consultant whom he fired for misusing his social media accounts to attack certain politicians as “totally baseless and utterly ridiculous.”
“I know he has been harboring hatred against me for firing him and for not giving in to his request to endorse him to several government posts,” said Drilon.
“Mejorada’s allegations are mere fabrications. He has no direct information and knowledge on the project. All he has are flawed data and wrong assumptions,” he stressed.
“The building will be finished by March 2015 at a cost of around P700 million. If we accept Mejorada’s claim that the project is overpriced by P488 million, we will be left with a mere P212 million to construct an 11,693.79-square meter convention center. If you do the math using his assertions, the ICC will then have to be built at a cost of P18,129.28 per sqm, which is an impossibly low amount for a modern structure that aims to draw local and international guests for large-scale conventions and other important events,” the Senate President asserted.
“There is no overprice. The ICC costs P63,893.11 per sqm, not P106,226 per sqm which he claims. The building is 28 meters high and designed without any columns but with long span beams and glass curtain walls,” he added.
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Mejorada, in his complaint, argued that the ICC, once completed, would be overpriced by P487.851 million because with a total floor area of 6,400 square meters, the unit cost for the construction and completion of the establishment would amount to P106,226 per square meter.
He noted that the SM Mall of Asia SMX convention center was built for P26,400 per square meter, which is within the industry standard of P30,000 per square meter.
“By any language, that is an overpriced contract cost for the completion of this building, which, computed at the industry standard of P30,000 per square meter, should only have cost not more than P192 million,” Mejorada said.
“The overprice for the project is glaring, because just across the street stands the 12-story Richmonde Hotel of Megaworld. This grand edifice, complete with world class furniture and fixtures that go with a five-star hotel, cost only P500 million,” he added.
Mejorada said Drilon is the principal proponent of the ICC project as it was he who pushed for the funding of the contract from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
“It is his baby. Hence, respondent Drilon must be held accountable for the loss of P488 million from the coffers of the government,” Mejorada said.
“He is presumed to have harvested the fruits of the anomalous expenditures way above what can be considered reasonable for the construction of the project,” the former provincial official alleged.
He also said the awarding of the contract to HCC was “infirm, invalid and violative” of the procurement law.
He said the officials and the other respondents in the complaint “confederated and conspired” to defraud the government.
“The conceptualization, procurement and implementation of this project oozes with dishonesty and grave misconduct,” he said.
“It was a high-level conspiracy involving the project proponent and key Cabinet secretaries in the government, and their subordinate officials, in cahoots with the private respondents,” he said.
“The construction of the Iloilo Convention Center is only a disguise for the proponent, respondent Franklin M. Drilon, to build an avenue for corruption with public funds coming from the DAP, which the Supreme Court had declared as illegal and unconstitutional,” he added.
The ICC thoroughly followed all standard requirements in bidding, and the project was bid out under the supervision of Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, who is widely known for his integrity, said Drilon.
The construction of a state-of-the-art convention center is part of a major campaign to improve Iloilo’s capacity to host and accommodate international occasions, particularly the 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meetings.
“Moreover, not only will the construction of the ICC complement Iloilo City’s social development programs, it will likewise spur economic activities and provide jobs throughout the province,” Drilon asserted.
“Mejorada was my former media officer, whom I have fired for using my social media account to lash out against his local political enemies. He has no credibility, and this latest tirade proves exactly my point. It is unfair for Mejorada to taint the project with his personal vendetta against me. I am confident that the Ombudsman will see through Mejorada’s lies, and that this travesty will be resolved in favor of the truth,” Drilon said.