New Leyte Capitol: A Necessity
Local Government

New Leyte Capitol: A Necessity

May 13, 2021, 9:49 PM
Roy Moraleta

Roy Moraleta

Columnist

With the old Leyte Capitol Building in downtown Tacloban City now deteriorating to a point that provincial offices have vacated the premises, Leyte Governor Dominico Petilla says a new Provincial Capitol building will soon be opened in nearby Palo town by the end of 2021.

Rising now within the sprawling 14-hectare lot owned by the Leyte provincial government along the newly opened bypass road in Palo is the new Leyte Capitol – a state-of-the-art 5-storey modern building complete with a proportionate park basement, a helipad at its roof deck, and an expansive landscape.

The ongoing construction of this P800 million or more worth structure, which is as of date now halfway done, is expected to be completed by December this year.

A Need

In an exclusive interview with OpinYon, Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla said the building will be ready for use before he leaves office next year, a need he had long sought to solve but was constrained to do so out of lack of local funds.

The expectedly posh and modern structure will house the entire workforce of the provincial government of Leyte – its several hundred office personnel now separately holding offices in 9 different locations, including the SangunianPanlalawigan (SP) of Leyte.

The SP Leyte is currently located at the UP Tacloban compound situated nearby the old Leyte capitol grounds in Tacloban City.

“The decision to build a new Capitol is not about leaving a lasting legacy, it’s more about responding a need,” Petilla retorted.

Old and Risky

Not only that the Leyte Capitol building is now over a hundred years old, the aged historic building obviously has significantly deteriorated, posing an unnecessary risk to occupants.

In fact, the office of the provincial governor had to be relocated at the Government Center in Palo, and the rest of its workforce had to be transferred to nearby buildings near the capitol grounds, and are currently holding office separately in three different buildings.

Petilla argued that while the old building can technically be renovated, with the advance retrofitting and building renovations technology available now, the funding requirement can be insanely huge and impractical.

Political Reasons

Also, a transfer to a Leyte town in Palo is politically convenient for its constituents.

According to Petilla, while the provincial government could have opted to remain in Tacloban City since it owns a lot of real properties in there, the office of the provincial government would be more politically reasonable and convenient to its Leyte constituents if it is located within its political jurisdiction.

Tacloban city, while geographically situated in the island of Leyte has since 2008 been a highly urbanized city, a separate political government unit from the Leyte province.

Options

While at present much of the Capitol offices had been vacated and its public hall now restricted for meetings, and the only remaining offices holding as of date are the treasurer’s and accounting departments, it may soon be totally vacated as soon as the new Capitol building in Palo is made ready for occupancy by December this year.

Petilla said that there are suggestions he is hearing to convert the historic building into a museum.

Local historians claimed that the Leyte Capitol has briefly became during the second world war a temporary seat of power of the Philippine government.

From a Loan with Easy Payment Scheme

The Leyte governor explained that the provincial government was able to secure a loan amounting to over P800 million, with a payment scheme that will not even affect its IRA (Internal Revenue Allotment) shares.

“Its worth it. In spite of where we’re coming from, namiling kami hin scheme, through a loan, but we can pay without even using the IRA.”

According to the governor, “paborabli para ha probinsiya eton payment scheme kay deri malalabtan eton IRA share hini, which means, padayon nga mapopondohan gihapon an mga development programs ngan operational requirements han probinsiya,” he stressed.

A Sprawling Facility

Included in the plan is to also build a mall there, Petilla said.

There are now initial steps being made in this regard and hopefully, he said, initial talks with owners of malls in the country would soon come into fruition.

Also, construction of a provincial convention center in the extensive area is being seriously planned.

Petilla also mentioned during the interview of initial talks for a possible relocation of Leyte Provincial Hospital (LPH) to the new sprawling provincial government location.

The LPH in Palo Leyte was submerged in floodwaters during the 2013 onslaught of Super Typhoon “Yolanda.”

Tags: #OpinYon8, #TaclobanCity, #provincialcapitol


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