Unresolved site arrangements for the University of the Philippines (UP) Freedom Memorial Museum have delayed its procurement, with competitive bidding yet to begin and no contractor or definite opening date for the long-delayed project, according to the Human Rights Violations Victims’ Memorial Commission (HRVVMC).
Bidding planned for July 2025 and mobilization targeted for September that year did not push through because arrangements for the museum site at the UP Diliman remained unresolved, HRVVMC acting Executive Director Lawrence Charles Salazar told the Inquirer.
‘The Commission did not proceed with the infrastructure procurement while the site arrangements and availability remained unresolved,’ Salazar said.
‘Because formal competitive bidding has not yet been initiated, no contractor has been selected to date,’ he added.
Salazar said specific completion and public opening dates would only be established once competitive bidding is completed and the infrastructure works contract is awarded.
Physical construction of the permanent museum has also yet to begin as of September.
The HRVVMC furnished the Inquirer copies of a deed and correspondence with UP documenting developments involving the museum site, including the consideration of an alternative location before the university ultimately decided to proceed with the original site.
Alternative site proposed
Salazar said UP informed HRVVMC in March this year that the original 1.4-hectare site along C.P. Garcia Avenue could no longer be made available and proposed an alternative location.
The HRVVMC board then authorized a ‘structured transition’ to the proposed alternative site, subject to technical evaluation.
On May 29, HRVVMC asked UP for technical documents on the proposed site, including information on its survey, land use, utilities, environmental conditions and access. It followed up on the request on Sept. 2.
‘The project remained on hold pending resolution of the site and technical requirements,’ Salazar said.
Salazar said UP informed HRVVMC on Sept. 18 that, after further deliberations and consultations, it had decided to proceed with the original site, which the university considered the ‘most straightforward and least complicated approach’ to facilitating construction.
UP also informed the commission that about 6,000 square meters of the 14,000-square-meter property were ready for construction, while the remaining portion was expected to become available by late 2026 or early 2027.
Salazar said HRVVMC was now evaluating the technical, institutional, procurement and implementation requirements following the latest development.
UP President Angelo Jimenez earlier told the Inquirer that site readiness was the foremost issue affecting the project’s timeline, while procurement, contractor selection and construction mobilization were within HRVVMC’s purview.
Jimenez said the university remained committed to the museum but had encountered logistical difficulties in relocating its Campus Maintenance Office (CMO), which occupied the original site. Those difficulties led UP to consider alternative locations before it eventually decided to proceed with the original property.
Eight-year plan
Plans for the permanent museum at UP Diliman date back to Sept. 21, 2018, when UP and HRVVMC signed a memorandum of understanding formalizing their partnership to establish a permanent memorial and educational resource honoring victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime.
An agreement for the memorial complex was approved in 2019, identifying the 1.4-hectare property along C.P. Garcia Avenue. The site was occupied by the CMO, whose relocation later became one of the issues affecting the project’s timeline.
The project’s construction and completion targets have since gone through several revisions.
In 2022, then-HRVVMC Executive Director Carmelo Victor Crisanto said construction could begin that year, with the museum expected to open in June 2024.
By September 2024, UP and HRVVMC had agreed to expedite the project. On Sept. 27 that year, HRVVMC completed and formally turned over to UP a P80-million relocation facility for the CMO, intended to accommodate affected university units and facilitate the clearing of the museum site.
The deed furnished by HRVVMC to the Inquirer documents the turnover and transfer of possession of the facility to UP.
The two sides then targeted a December 2024 groundbreaking.
‘The December 2024 groundbreaking target did not materialize because the anticipated site possession and turnover arrangements had not been completed within the projected timeframe,’ Salazar said.
UP Diliman subsequently informed HRVVMC in November 2024 that partial possession of the museum site was expected by March 2025 and full possession by September 2025.
Salazar said the developments affected the timing of site mobilization and succeeding project activities.
What comes next
Before construction can begin, HRVVMC said the site and related project requirements must undergo finalization and technical verification.
The next steps include the publication of an invitation to bid, competitive bidding, bid evaluation and contract award, followed by site mobilization and physical construction.
The project would then undergo interior fit-out and installation of museum components, exhibition development and curation, and operational testing before it can open to the public.
Republic Act No. 10368, or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013, created HRVVMC and tasked it with establishing, restoring, preserving and conserving a memorial, museum, library or compendium honoring human rights violation victims during the Marcos regime.
While construction of the permanent museum remains pending, Salazar said the commission continues its archival and research work, collections and documentation, exhibitions and educational programs, and survivor-centered memorialization activities.