By Perfecto T. Raymundo, Jr.
PASIG CITY — The Pasig City Government has invited Engr. Selwin Lao, owner and president of Wing-An Construction and Development Corp. to inspect the site of the new Pasig City Hall.
In a press conference, Engr. Lao divulged that City Administrator Atty. James Manzanero sent him a message in the messenger at 12:01 pm today to go with select city officials and inspect the site of the new Pasig City Hall on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, or two days after the May 12 midterm elections.
However, Engr. Lao was able to browse the message at 1pm today.
Engr. Lao, a civil engineer by professional training, has been in the construction industry for 42 years now and has built some 200 structural and engineering projects.
He challenged Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto last week that he can prove that there was an anomaly in the PhP9.2-billion new Pasig City Hall building such that if he will be provided by Mayor Sotto with a calculator and a computer, he can prove that there was such an anomaly.
Engr. Lao even dared Mayor Sotto to resign, if he can prove it in six hours, if not, he is willing to go to jail.
Engr Lao even claimed that if the structure has been completed and through a “reversed engineering” and with the necessary construction documents, he can compute the real cost of the project in a week’s time. .
According to Engr Lao, the cost of the new City Hall project is pegged at PhP210,000 per square meter, but he can construct it at PhP46,000 to PhP50,000 per square meter or a total of PhP3.2 billion to PhP3.5 billion.
Engr. Lao is also willing to undertake the project at a total cost of PhP5 billion, way below the PhP9.2 billion project cost. ###
