Construction of the new Leyte provincial capitol building located within a 14-hectare property in this town will be completed by December this year.
Located along the Palo West Bypass Road in Pawing village, the capitol will be occupied by local government workers by January or February of 2022, said Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla in an interview Tuesday.
The construction of the PHP800 million building started on Jan. 21, 2020 after the old capitol sustained cracks following the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that shook Leyte and Samar on April 27, 2019. Storm surge also hit the building when Super Typhoon Yolanda struck the city on Nov. 8, 2013.
“We need to build something that can withstand calamities like storm surge, typhoon, and it is also designed to withstand strong earthquake,” Petilla told reporters.
“Our focus now is to provide office space to our employees because currently, the different departments of the provincial government are scattered in Tacloban and Palo town,” said the governor who has been holding office at the building of the Government Center administrator here.
The provincial government developed half of the property for the construction of the five-story building with a mini-theater inside and a helipad.
Petilla said they are still finalizing plans for the old provincial capitol building in Tacloban. Among the initial plans is to convert the building into a museum.
The old building was the seat of the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines (Oct. 23, 1944 to Feb. 27, 1945) when President Sergio Osmeña came into power in 1944 with the World War II Liberation Forces.
He was sworn into office by Gen. Douglas McArthur inside the building in the “presence of Cabinet men, liberation forces and many other grateful people.” (PNA)
