An ordinance signed by Makati Mayor Junjun Binay in 2013 authorized the city government to open the allegedly overpriced Makati Friendship Suites to the public to generate more income for the city.
“The Commission on Audit, through Audit Observation Memorandum No. 2011-039, has recommended the opening of Makati Friendship Suites to the public for a fee to generate income for the city government,” said City Ordinance No. 2013-A-018.
According to the ordinance, the hotel will have an introductory rate of P2,100 per room per day. It also stated that although it is open to the public, it should reserve 15 rooms for the use of the city’s guests.
Before opening it to the public, the Makati Friendship Suites was only meant for use by the city’s official guests and to paying transient visitors when Vice President Jejomar Binay was mayor.
Overpriced
In the recent Senate blue ribbon subcommittee hearings, lawyer Rene Bondal testified that the hotel was overpriced by P195 million.
In 2007, the city also set aside P120 million for the rehabilitation of the Makati Friendship Suites, but the contractor, ITP Construction, said at the Senate hearing on Jan. 22 that the hotel revamp cost P242 million.
“Na-implement po ito in three phases. Phase One is about P119 million. Phase Two is about P90 million. And then the third is about P33 million,” said ITP Construction president Antonio Cruz in January.
However, Bondal said that the rehabilitation only cost P47 million, based on industry standards.
“Dapat mga P47 million lang as per the industry standards we’re using right now. It’s another case of plunder kasi overpriced na naman,” he said.
Home Guaranty Corporation
When Vice President Binay’s was Makati mayor in 2002, the city bought three buildings from Home Guaranty Corporation for P17.2-million.
HGC said they acquired the land during the time of former President Cory Aquino.
“Some assets of the Ministry of Human Settlements including some BLISS (Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services) assets, not all were conveyed to Home Guaranty Corporation,” said Levi Espinosa of HGC’s Corporate Planning Department.
The three-building hotel was supposed to provide housing for the informal settlers of the city and fact, is surrounded by residential houses and other buildings meant for low-cost housing.
Joe Gallego, a former resident of the project said that they were told to move out in 2007 since the city government already bough the land.
His family was given a choice to be transferred to Montalban, Rizal but they did not agree to it because it was too far away.
“Bakit hindi patirhan sa amin kaya naman namin ito bayaran? Bakit sa iba pa kinuha nila? Siyempre makalungkot din… Iba ang nakinabang,” he said in a report on GMA-7’s “24 Oras” on Thursday.
According to Makati City Public Information Officer Joey Salgado, the government already bought a parcel of land in Bulacan and Laguna for over 1,400 families when the hotel was completed.
