7 city councilors 'snub' Coscolluela presentation
Seven members of the Sangguniang Panglungsod did not attend yesterday's presentation of the plan for the proposed new city hall building by Architect William Coscolluela.
Staunch-critics of the proposed city hall building Councilors Eldrid Antiquiera and Antonio Pesina did not attend Coscolluela's presentation of the city hall design. Councilors Juliene Baronda, Jeffrey Ganzon, Ely Estante, Armand Parcon and John Melchor Mabilog were also absent.
It was not immediately known why said councilors failed to attend the presentation despite advance invitations sent to them.
The members of the legislative body who attended Coscolluela's presentation were Councilors Eduardo Peñaredondo, Jose Espinosa III, Lyndon Acap, Irene Ong, Lex Tupas, Erwin Plagata, Perla Zulueta and Vice Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.
Mayor Jerry Treñas was hoping that all the councilors would be around for the presentation to clear all the issues relative to the construction of the city hall building.
The mayor is not committal on whether he is going to present the blue print design of the proposed building to members of the council who did not attend yesterday's presentation.
In yesterday's presentation, Architect Coscolluela defended there was no delay on their part in coming up with a design for the city hall building. The situation is complicated as Mayor Treñas entertained othert ideas regarding the project, he said.
First, there was a proposal to buy an old building and have it renovated then another proposal to have the building constructed at the old airport site as offered by Megaworld Corp.
The contract between Coscolluela and the city government was signed on May 24, 2007 and the notice to proceed was issued the following day. It is stipulated in the contract that they will present the design after 120 days or four months after the notice to proceed was issued.
Coscolluela explained that they could not present any design unless the space planning is approved by the chief executive. The space planning must be in accordance to the requirement of the city hall.
He said the mayor only informed him to proceed with the old plan in building the city hall in its old site last March 2008. The contractor could not present the design for the city hall unless approved by Treñas.
Further, Coscolluela explained that Vice Mayor Jed Mabilog returned the space planning four times causing more delay. The vice mayor admitted he returned the proposed plan as he wants the vice mayor's office near the session hall and the conference hall must be adjacent to the offices of the city councilors.
There is no legal repercussion on the alleged delay in the submission of the design to the city government. And there is no money released to Coscolluela and his group. The contract amounted to more than P12 million.
The W.V. Coscolluela cornered the contract from the eight firms that made their bids in the architectural, space planning, engineering design consultancy. The seven other bidders were the Mohri and DA Associates; Filipinas Dravo Corp; Woodfields Consultant Inc; United Technologies Inc.; Schema Konsult Corp; Palafox and Associates and E.S. de Castro & Associates.