SP Sotto, other senators break ground for the new Senate building

A time capsule was placed in a foundation, breaking the ground for the new Senate building at the Naval Village in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City Monday, March 18.

Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III led the simple groundbreaking ceremony of the new Senate building, which will occupy 131,500 square meters (sqm) of the land.

The project, amounting to a little over P8 billion, is expected to be finished by July 2021.

Also present were Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators Panfilo Lacson, Gregorio Honasan, Loren Legarda, Joel Villanueva, Nancy Binay, Juan Edgardo Angara, JV Ejercito, and Sherwin Gatchalian.

Lacson said the Senate is eyeing to start holding sessions in its new home by July 2021. "In other words, we will open our Third Regular Session of the 18th Congress here," he said.

Calling the new Senate building "a home away from home," Sotto said the Senate will finally have its own building after several decades.

"It has been a long time coming. It took decades for this dream to materialize. But this I tell you, when the building finally stands on this site, it will have been worth the wait. Thus I would like to thank and congratulate Senator Panfilo Lacson, the chair of the Committee on Accounts, for making this day possible," Sotto said.

The Senate's new home will have four towers, 11 floors each and three-level parking that can accomodate at least 1,200 vehicles.

Under the new design, senators' offices will occupy the entire 7th to 12th floors while the Senate Secretariat will occupy the ground floor up to the 4th floor. The session hall will be located in the center of the four towers or buildings. Committee rooms will be walking distance to the session hall.

Lacson said the first three towers will be finished first in time for the opening of the Third Regular Session of the 18th Congress. The last tower, the fourth tower will not affect the functions of the Senate since it will be rented out to the Commission on Appointments and the Senate Electoral Tribunal.

Currently, the Senate is renting the 44,000-sqm property at the Government Service Insurance System headquarters in Pasay City, including the parking area owned by the Social Security System, for an annual fee of P171 million.