(Photo by Jayson Pulga)
The heated dispute between Binay and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, the current chairman of the Senate Committee on Accounts formerly headed by Binay, was over the issue of the alleged ballooning construction budget to P23 billion.
Binay stressed that the Department of Public Works and Highways themselves had mentioned in a media interview that the cost would not reach P23 billion.
However, during the Senate hearing, Cayetano stated that the DPWH had been mistaken in their media statement. As a result, DPWH Undersecretary Emil Sadain issued an apology.
Cayetano insisted that his estimate of the construction cost stands at P23 billion, including the land acquisition cost, in addition to the P21.73 billion cost for the three phases of the project based on its Multi-Year Contract Authority.
Witness the incident at the Senate Committee on Accounts hearing yesterday at the Senate of the Philippines in Pasay City:
