Senator: NHCP failed to defend Rizal monument

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Pia Cayetano yesterday called for the resignation of National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) chairperson Maria Serena Diokno for failing to defend the Rizal monument as a national symbol.

Cayetano, who has been very vocal against the construction of Torre de Manila Condominium building of DMCI Homes, said “those occupying the top level positions of the government’s cultural agencies must be willing and able to defend national historic sites.”

“If one cannot find it in themselves to undertake the legal and moral responsibility to do the same, then that person must resign,” she added. 

The Office of the Solicitor General recently dropped the NHCP as its client in the Torre de Manila case before the Supreme Court because of the differing positions the two have taken on the issue.

The NHCP has taken a position that the Torre de Manila is outside the boundaries of the Rizal Park and as such cannot obstruct the front view of the Rizal monument. 

“I find it extremely strange that we now have the NHCP insisting that it cannot defend the Rizal monument when there are many of us, including the Solicitor General, the defender of the Constitution, who believe that we must and we can protect the Rizal monument under the Constitution and existing laws,” Cayetano said.

She said if Diokno, as NHCP chair, “cannot get on board with this, as she has blatantly displayed, then she must resign instead of hiring private counsel to defend her inability to perform her job.”

Erap accepts Lim lie detector challenge 

Meanwhile, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada accepted yesterday the challenge issued by his predecessor, Alfredo Lim, to undergo a lie detector test to determine who is lying on the matter of the Torre de Manila.

The mayor called Lim “a liar” and “senile” for claiming that it was Estrada who approved the construction of the 46-story condominium.

Estrada said an investigation by the city government’s legal office showed that Lim “was the one who permitted DMCI to construct a 49-story condominium” and even made a marginal note declaring it as a “priority project.”

According to the condominium’s building permit, DMCI was given the go-signal to pursue the project in July 2012 .

Lim, who issued the challenge in June, earlier said he only allowed 19 floors to be built.

“It was already on the 19th floor when (Estrada) assumed office. They stopped it. Then later on they authorized it. So what was constructed was 27 floors. So 27 floors plus 19, it became 46 floors. If that is wrong, why did they continue it?” he said. – With Jose Rodel Clapano