InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
From one property of the Government Service Insurance System to another. The Quezon City government is suggesting an idle three-hectare property of the GSIS on Philcoa as a possible home for the Philippine Senate.
In a statement, city mayor Herbert Bautista said he has ordered City Hall executives to write Senate President Enrile about the 29,567-square meter GSIS property at the corner of Commonwealth Ave. and Elliptical Road in Diliman.
"The GSIS property at Philcoa is a good location for the Senate of the Philippines," Bautista said. "We should offer this to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to be the upper chamber's permanent home."
Bautista is hopeful that the Senate's proposed transfer to Quezon City, bringing it closer to the Batasan Pambansa, where the House of Representatives is located, can bring economic benefits and boost the development of the city's future Central Business District.
Though the property was earlier reported to be leased to private developers for their business, the city mayor said the area is for institutional purposes only. "The area is an institutional zone, thus we refused the plan of a mall construction in the area," Bautista said.
Previously, Sen. Franklin Drilon said he was authorized by Senate President Enrile to examine the possible transfer of the Senate, currently housed at the GSIS complex on Roxas Blvd. in Pasay City.
One of the Senate's options is an idle property along Commonwealth Ave., owned by the University of the Philippines.
