P331M “state of the art” new city hall inaugurated
ByElvie Roman-Roa
ORMOC CITY — After eight years of hard work in allocating budget from the city’s annual income, the new Ormoc City Hall has come to its completion.
The old city hall has been serving the Ormocanons for more than 50 years already and is partly dilapidated. Due to the growing needs of Ormocanons and practically because of the growing population of the progressive city, a real need to have a new city hall was seen.
Ten years in the making, so to speak, for it was in 1998, when Mayor Eufrocino “Dodong” Codilla Sr., now the Leyte 4th District Representative planned to build a new city hall. It was in the year 2000 when everything was ironed out having the new city hall ready for construction, according to Congressman Codilla. Based from the original plan, a 4-storey edifice should have to stand at Y. Aunubing St., Government Center this city.
But the 2001 elected city mayor Carmelo “Toto” Locsin had it changed to 3-storey. It was during the start of his term when the work for the first phase started. The front portion of the one-hectare lot area occupied by the new city hall stood when Toto Locsin finished his lone term as the father of the city.
When Mayor Beboy Codilla assumed the post as the new Mayor in 2004, he was encouraged by his father, Rep. Codilla to finish the new city hall, which remained untouched after the first phase due to lack of budget.
The City Treasurer Angelo I. Roman was pushed by Mayor Codilla to efficiently collect the real property tax as well as the other collectibles of the city. It was also during his term that the royalty tax from PNOC was given that was long been due. PNOC started paying in 2005 retroactively as fought by the City Council and through the effort of the incumbent mayor.
Codilla emphasized during his inaugural speech at the opening of the new city hall last April 26 that part of his father’s plan on constructing a new city hall was a condition to avoid creating debt for the project. This, the Mayor proudly announced that he complied. He finished the project allocating 20 million pesos per year from the local income without sacrificing the basic services of the city.
The increasing material cost, affected the pacing of the works, narrates Mayor Codilla. But the need of a new city hall, as he said, is not that bad, so the gradual completion of the project that was dependent on the city’s income was the best choice he had in mind. He also added, “I will just clean the way for the next administration”.
When he assumed office in 2004, the city’s local income was only Php84 million which rose to Php200 million in 2009. It was also during this year that for the first time in history, Ormoc City became a Billionaire. The City Treasurer’s Office kept a total of P1 Billion from the local income of Php200 million plus the royalty and its internal revenue allocation.
Engr Raoul Cam, the City Planning and Development Officer and the chairman of the technical working group for the new city hall formed in 2004 describes the new structure as “State of the Art”. Having a total floor area of 14,783.74 square meters for the three storeys, it has an estimated cost of P22,000.00 per square meter based from the total cost of P331 million up to the smallest details. The elevator is not yet working and there are still a lot of finishing touches to be made with an estimated additional expenses of P20M.
The furnitur are all new. And all the computers using the obsolete monitors which are not energy saving and environment-friendly are subject to be replaced with an LCD monitor.
Architect Maribeth Tabucanon-Ebcas, the architectural aspect in charge, explains the features they use on the new city hall. It is called green building being environment-friendly. Using energy-saving resources more efficiently and reducing the over-all impact to the environment. It has Exterior metal cladding, State of the Art cooling system using inverter conditioning units (Cassette Type), modular office partition, workstation office furniture (versatile / flexible option to rearrange), mobile rack – mechanical type mobile filing system, manual sunscreen roller blinds (window coverings) and uses compact florescent lamps (CFL) lighting fixtures.
Its electric bill is expected to go down by 30% now that all their lighting materials and air conditioning
units are energy-saving. The city used to pay Php800,000.00 in electric bill.
Vice Mayor Nepomuceno Aparis I said that April 26 become a historical date for Ormoc having done the inauguration of the new city hall. And he announced the plan to suggest the 11th Sangguniang Panglungsod that a resolution be passed announcing the date as it is, while describing the new building as “a symbol of Ormocanons’ collective success”
Now that the spacious city hall is already operational, more clients are expected to avail the services. Higher local income is also envisioned for the comfort that the building brings is not only enjoyed by the employees, but as well as the Ormoc folks. 18 stalls are to be installed which will be called as foodcourt for easier access of clean food by the clients and employees.
The new city hall has the highest quality structure and gives most efficient services and business-friendly environment for the most deserving Ormocanons.
