CONSTRUCTION of the new city hall is discontinued pending the issuance of specific guidelines from the National Historical Commission on what the city government must do to the old city hall that it declared one of the nation’s heritage sites.

Mayor Belen Fernandez ordered the temporary halt to the construction of the new city hall until it receives the NHC guidelines.

She said representatives of NHC are expected in Dagupan this week to inspect the old city hall to determine if the old architectural designs when it was built in 1925 can still be restored.

NHC might recommend its demolition if they deem that the old city hall is beyond repair and build a new structure in its place, Fernandez said.

However, another possible option is to incorporate the facade of the old city hall in the new building to help preserve the memory of the old city hall for future Dagupeños to appreciate, a proposition she will support because the planned facade of the new city hall being constructed can be likened to a coffee shop.

The new city hall was an initiative of the former Mayor Brian Lim, whose construction started after he lost the election to Mayor Fernandez in 2022.

Records show some P60 million was already spent just for the piling foundations of the three-story edifice while and another P40 million was set aside for the same in 2023.

However, according to Fernandez, Phase 3 and Phase 4 of still undetermined amount will still be needed in order to complete the project.

Fernandez said the amount being spent by the city on the new city hall being constructed that can only accommodate up to nine offices compared to the planned P100 million four-story city hall she proposed in 2018 in Barangay Pantal, that can house all offices of the Dagupan City government. (Leonardo Micua)

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