Senate session hall flooded after heavy rains

MANILA, Philippines - As if the rains are signs of things to come at the Senate, a portion of the session hall became flooded yesterday after rainwater coming from a damaged water spout penetrated the ceilings at the second floor of the Senate offices at the GSIS Building in Pasay City.

Engineer Cliburn Candiente, head of the Senate maintenance and physical facilities service, said they are temporarily putting sealants to the damaged pipes until the contractor from the GSIS attend to the problem.

Since Congress is still on break, nobody was working at the session hall when drips of water penetrated the ceilings. A maintenance man reported the incident to higher-ups at past 3 p.m. yesterday.

Candiente and his team inspected the ceilings at the portion of the session hall’s gallery leading to the Senators’ executive lounge and found out that the drips was due to a damaged spout.

The carpet was all wet as janitors tried to dry them using electrical vacuum cleaner. There were also huge garbage plastic bins to catch the leaking water which also affected the ceilings and some electrical wirings.

This prompted the Senate maintenance office to temporarily shut down electricity at the Senate, disrupting internet wireless connections in some offices.

“We think the pipes were damaged when the GSIS contractor conducted declogging operations on pipes during the break as part of regular preparations for the rainy season. Right now, we are putting sealants to damaged down spouts to stop the leak,” Candiente said.

Candiente added his team also received complaints of rain water getting into the Senate Journal division.

He added he has coordinated with the GSIS engineering office to assist the Senate in addressing the problem before Congress officially starts on July 26 for the 15th Congress.