The city government here is building a modern and bigger city hall on its original site at the corner Luzuriaga-Araneta streets in downtown Bacolod.

As of Tuesday, initial clearing and construction works are ongoing for a new four-story structure with spacious government offices and multi-level parking.

“The old city hall was built 61 years ago. Soon, we will have a modern city hall with bigger and newer offices to better serve the Bacolodnons,” Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said in a statement.

Considered a rehabilitation/improvement project, it has a budget of PHP223 million funded under the PHP4.4-billion loan package from the Development Bank of the Philippines last year.

The city government said the project is estimated to be finished by next year.

The building, which will have a 55-space parking lot, will house the offices of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Office, City Veterinary Office, General Services Office, Persons with Disability Office, Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs, Commission on Audit and Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Currently, the seat of power is the Bacolod City Government Center, located on the eastern side of the city.

The City Mayor’s Office and City Council offices are housed at the Government Center, built in 2007.

The site of the old City Hall, along with the Fountain of Justice, was where the house of Don Jose Ruiz de Luzuriaga once stood.

It first became the seat of the provincial government and then the Bacolod City hall.

On Nov. 6, 1998, the signing of the Act of Capitulation or Document of Surrender of the Spanish forces the day after the Negros revolt on Nov. 5 was held at the Luzuriaga residence. (PNA)