Mayor denies "lavish budget" for town hall

Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco denied reports yesterday that the local government allotted an "excessive and lavish budget" for the construction of the new municipal building.

Tiangco reacted to allegations made by ex-Mayor Felipe del Rosario that the budget for the new municipal hall was too big for "one of the poorest towns in Metro Manila."

In a telephone interview, Tiangco pointed out that the budget is "only" P83,470,496.40, and not P130 million, which Del Rosario had claimed.

"The P130 million is only the stand-by credit of the Land Bank, and our real budget for the town hall is far less than that," Tiangco explained.

He added that the town hall’s construction cost is "very reasonable" because he wanted the municipal building to be a "long term" project.

"If I’m going to build a town hall, I’m going to make sure it is safe for local officials and that it would last for a long time," Tiangco said.

According to Baby Oliveros, a staffer in the Office of the Mayor, the construction was started two weeks ago and is expected to be completed in August this year.

The municipal hall will have five floors and will be equipped with special conference rooms, a session area, and a helipad on the roof.

The mayor said a five story building is necessary because Navotas has no space for horizontal expansion. – Matthew Estabillo