MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Franklin Drilon
welcomed yesterday an investigation by his colleagues on the allegedly
overpriced Iloilo Convention Center (ICC).
“I have nothing to hide,” Drilon declared.
He brushed aside anew allegations of impropriety in the ICC
project funded with his pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund
(PDAF), insisting that he had no participation in any of the processes involved
in its implementation.
Drilon expressed confidence that the Department of Public
Works and Highways (DPWH), the implementing agency, would be able to defend the
project in any forum or investigation.
“The DPWH, which supervised the ICC, can easily disprove the
malicious allegations made against the implementation of the project. I have no
involvement in any way in the bidding process for the project. I was nowhere
near that process to intervene, let alone nominate anyone to be the
contractor,” he said.
Drilon’s former consultant Manuel Mejorada, who has filed
similar cases against him in the past, had also accused the Senate president of
plunder in relation to the ICC project.
Drilon has dismissed the allegations against him as “totally
baseless and ridiculous” and that the person behind it was a disgruntled former
employee.
He said that he fired Mejorada as his media officer for
using his social media account to lash out against his political enemies.
Responding to challenges from the political opposition that
the Senate Blue Ribbon committee should investigate the allegedly overpriced
ICC project just as it has the reportedly overpriced parking building of the
city government of Makati, a number of senators have stated that this can be
lined up as soon as sufficient evidence is provided to support the probe.
Drilon said that he was not averse to any investigation and
that he would not use his position to prevent the conduct of any inquiry into
the project.
“I have nothing to hide. Any inquiry or investigation will
validate the facts and figures of this project, and will just show how absurd
these vile allegations really are,” he said.
Once all of the facts are brought out, Drilon said the
public would realize that the issues raised against him were baseless.
“The ICC is a major undertaking by various agencies,
particularly the DPWH, DOT (Department of Tourism) and TIEZA (Tourism
Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority). To say that Secretary (Rogelio)
Singson, Secretary (Ramon) Jimenez and I all connived to ruin the integrity of
the ICC project is absurd, baseless and malicious,” Dillon said.
Public Works Secretary Singson earlier disputed the
allegations of overpricing, saying that the project was aboveboard and strictly
followed the bidding process.
Singson pointed out that the actual cost of the ICC was even
lower than the approved budget for the contract, which they managed to
accomplish after they allowed the adoption of value engineering specifically on
structural aspects of the building.
Tourism Secretary Jimenez, for his part, aired his full
trust and confidence in the competence and sincerity of all those involved in
the ICC project.
“I firmly believe that our actions in support of this
project will withstand scrutiny. Notwithstanding this unfortunate allegation of
overpricing, we will not allow this distraction to derail our mission to make
tourism a force for growth and inclusiveness in this country,” Jimenez said in
a statement.
Once all the facts are straightened out and the project has
been cleared of any irregularity, Drilon said that the persons involved in
spreading lies about the ICC project “must be made liable for their actions if
their allegations were proven wrong and politically motivated.”
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