MANILA, Philippines — The Manila City Government on Tuesday inaugurated the newly renovated session City Council Session Hall which is now equipped with solar panels to provide electricity for its day-to-day operations.

Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno toured Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and guest of honor Vice President Jejomar Binay, elected city officials and former city leaders inside the Manila’s newly refurbished session hall.

Also present in the inauguration of the newly renovated session hall of Manila were chief of staff and concurrent Media Bureau chief Ric de Guzman, City Engineer Armand Andres, broadcaster Karen Davila, among others.

In a speech he delivered before his guests, Moreno said the City of Manila is a pioneer in adapting renewable energy sources, specifically the use of solar power, in a government building.

“Members of the city council come and go and as members, we wanted to leave a legacy to the future leaders of this city who will use this historic landmark,” the Vice Mayor said.

“The City of Manila will be the first to use this kind of technology here in the Philippines and this would not be realized without the help and support of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim,” he said.

In an interview, Moreno said that the solar-powered project stemmed from an inspiration he got from government buildings in the United States, which uses renewable energy.

The city council tapped a Taiwanese company to provide the photovoltaic cell technology to tap solar energy.

Moreno said the dome was also created not only for energy saving innovation but also to preserve its original and historical features.

With the installation of the P2.7 million solar panels, he estimated that the city council’s electric bill will go down from P80,000 to P8,000.

He noted that solar panels will generate up to five kilowatts of electricity, enough to run lighting and cooling systems for day-to-day operations.

“It’s a wise investment that we are confident of gaining back. It is also a responsible move to protect our environment,” Moreno said.

“The good thing about this is that brown-out can’t anymore interrupt with our regular session so we can finish pending bills on the floor just right on time” he said.

Aside from the use of solar power, the Manila Vice Mayor also will stop publishing the minutes of the city council session and instead will give the soft copies of the documents which city officials can browse over the newly purchased computers.

Moreno said that the city will save at least 50 rims of paper per day.

“If this initiative will prove to be really beneficial, we will expand its use to our public schools, the city-run hospitals, lying-ins and centers and even our lamp posts,” said Moreno.