After conducting an ocular inspection of the Makati Science High School building on Saturday, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said the new classrooms were "good but ordinary" and should have cost less than what was paid.
Trillanes told reporters after the inspection that documents they received from the Makati City government indicated that each classroom is worth P24.6 million. But he said the cost for each room should have been much less.
"Sabi ko nga, kung extraordinarily impressive 'yung classrooms, it could justify the cost, pero based on what we saw, mas maganda siya compared sa mga ibang public high schools pero [the classrooms are] really ordinary...," he said.
When asked if the price of the building was justified, Trillanes said: "Definitely not, nakita naman natin na even the five-star hotels won't cost that much to build a room..."
However, he said the experts they brought with them during the inspection would give their advice at the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on Tuesday.
For his part, Senator Koko Pimentel said that while he is satisfied with the construction of the building, there are some issues that needs to be addressed.
"Compared to the Makati Parking Building II, I'm satisfied with what I have seen, sa tingin ko – well, I am not an engineer, am a lawyer – mukha namang matibay... 'yung staircases mukhang safe para sa mga bata," he said.
"But there are some features like low ceiling at the dormitory room for the kids has a ceiling fan, so I pointed this out to the city administration," he added.
Less expensive?
For his part, Cuervo Valuers and Advisory Inc. president and CEO Federico Cuervo, an appraiser tapped by the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee, declined to immediately give an estimate of the cost of the construction. But he said the cost is "definitely much less" than the Makati Parking Building II.
"Since there is no river nearby, definitely the cost is going to be much less than the Makati Building II," he said. "Wala namang aircon ang mga kuwarto at ceramic tiles are not very expensive."
He also noted that the P24-million cost for the construction of the building is lower than the cost to build some private school classrooms, especially in schools like Ateneo de Manila in Quezon City or Xavier School in San Juan.
However, he said the amount is indeed higher than in "normal" public schools.
Cuervo stressed that he will present a report on the cost of the construction at a Senate blue ribbon subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.
For his part, Pimentel said officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Education, and some city officials were asked to also attend the subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.
Overpriced?
The MSHS inspection is part of the ongoing probe of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee into alleged corruption practices at the Makati City government when Vice President Jejomar Binay was the city mayor.
Lawyer Renato Bondal said the city government of Makati already shelled out P1.3333 billion out of the P1.5 billion for the 10-storey school building when based on the industry average price, it should only cost P470 million.
For his part, Pimentel said the cost could go up even more as the construction of the building is not yet done.
At the time of the inspection, only seven of the 10 floors are operational.
The first seven floors include a parking basement, faculty and admnistrative offices, classrooms, computer and speech laboratories, an audio-visual room, general science, chemistry and physics laboratories, and a canteen.
Located on the eight floor of the building, which is yet to be operational, are the 20 dormitories, which can be used by students who live far away. Each airconditioned room has six double-deck beds.
Meanwhile, an auditorium is being built at the 9th and 10th floors of the building.
Aside from the school building, among allegations of corruption hurled against VP Binay are the alleged overpricing of the Makati City Hall Building II, rigging bids and receiving kickbacks from the transactions the Makati city government entered into during his term as mayor.
The Vice President is also accused of owning — and not declaring — a sprawling property in Rosario, Batangas and a log cabin in Tagaytay Highlands.
Binay has repeatedly denied all the accusations saying these were all part of an operation to discredit him and diminish his chances of winning in the 2016 presidential elections.
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