SINCE Sept. 10, House members, their staffers, community members and other visitors have been enduring the heat in the House chamber and in the representatives’ offices because the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning or HVAC unit of the lower house has broken down.
During sessions and committee meetings, the doors of the House chamber have to be kept open and electric fans are utilized.
Last week, an HVAC service provider advised the Legislative Bureau that reenergizing the unit will be a temporary fix considering its age and the difficulty of finding replacement parts.
In a letter last week, Legislative Bureau Director Perry Tenorio asked Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig to authorize the bureau “to make an emergency procurement to replace the 20-ton HVAC unit servicing the House chamber as well as other offices.”
“We feel that in the interest of public health, safety or welfare, this emergency procurement request is justified,” Tenorio said.
He added that the Legislative Bureau also intends to procure the service of a mechanical engineer to assess the current condition of the building’s HVAC systems and design a replacement that will meet the needs of the facility and comply with the applicable Uniform Building Code.
Tenorio said this includes the design of all related electrical work required to power the new systems.
