MC Adore building unsafe for occupancy
NO, thank you.
This has been the response of government agencies that have been offered the use of the former five-star MC Adore Hotel, now derelict and found to have tilted during the 1990 earthquake and, therefore, unfit for occupancy.
“Tabingi siya konti,” admitted City Administrator Alvin Fernandez, speaking on Wednesday before the “Engkwentro sa Lenox” breakfast forum of the Pangasinan Press Club.
Fernandez said the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and Social Security System have declined the Dagupan City government’s offer because they knew of the building’s condition.
While the structure was earlier bandied as the strongest building in the city that withstood the July 16, 1990 earthquake since it rested on piling foundation, it had evidently tilted a little from the tremors.
Fernandez added that aside from the fact that the MC Adore building now leans on its side, all its electrical and plumbing systems have to be completely changed and restored.
The MC Adore, which sits on a 1,200 square meter property, was purchased for P50 million by the administration of Mayor Benjamin Lim for conversion into the new city hall.
IN an earlier forum, Lim claimed the city government got a good bargain from the purchase of the MC Adore property because it is a prime lot located in a prime area in the city, and its real estate value has since appreciated.
But the subsequent administration under Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. has refused to pursue Lim’s ‘city hall plan’ after determining that the would be extremely high.
Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez said the cost of renovating MC Adore would be better spent for buying a two hectare property outside of the city proper constructing a new city hall there, as recommended by a UP team of urban planners.
Instead, she also said that the city government would rather have MC Adore offered and sold to Lim himself whose CentroMart market is situated beside MC Adore.
“We have to spend P300 million for its renovation,” said Alvin Fernandez, who served as vice mayor under Lim when the purchase was made and who lodged his objection to the plan.
The current Fernandez administration, the city administrator said, is observing a belt-tightening policy, as it continues to pay for the P320 million loan obtained by the Lim administration, of which P280 million is for the Malimgas Market, P40 million for its air-conditioning, and P40 million for a dredging machine.
He said obtaining another loan would entail an increase in taxes, which the current administration does not want to impose on the public.—LM
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