Animal Hub supplier takes full responsibility for construction mess

THE supplier of the controversial Negros First Animal Hub at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod City said she takes full responsibility for the structure that did not go through a bidding process.

Eva Blanco-Resoor, who claimed to be the supplier of the hub, said she is now in deep trouble with the real contractor of the building whom she refused to identify.

As this developed, the Office of the Building Official (OBO) in Bacolod City confirmed Tuesday, April 24, that the construction of the Animal Hub has no building permit, adding that it will issue a notice of violation and stoppage order to the contractor of the building.

Resoor, in a phone interview with SunStar Bacolod, said she does not want to drag the name of the contractor on the issue.

“He has been blaming me,” she said, adding the contractor is based in Metro Manila.

“I never talked to the governor. I never talked to Dr. Renante Decena (provincial veterinarian). I never talked to the Provincial Engineer about the building. I did it because it is my forte to beautify the building like what I did to my house and house of my children,” Resoor said.

Resoor said she is a supplier of some commodities including office supplies and rice to the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

“It involves small amounts only,” she added.

She also said she started the construction of the Animal Hub in December last year and that it is only about 50 percent complete, and not 95 percent as what the news said.

“It looks almost complete outside but inside it’s not yet done. There are still a lot of works to do inside,” she said.

She said she was only given the money by the contractor and her financier and that she was the one procuring the supplies.

Because of the controversy, she said she takes full responsibility and that she will pay the more than P3 million, which was spent for the construction of the building, through installment.

“I begged my financier that he won’t charge me of the interest and I will only pay him based on my capacity to pay and he also agree,” she said.

She also admitted that the construction of the Animal Hub is illegal and that it has no building permit.

She said she may donate the structure to the province.

“It's my fault because I only want to show my skill to beautify the building when I saw the design. It depends on the province now if they want to finish it and use the building,” Resoor said.

No building permit

OBO head Engineer Isidro Sun Jr. said Tuesday they do not have a record that the Capitol or the contractor of the animal hub secured a building permit.

“We are not aware that they have a construction at the Panaad Park because they failed to secure a building permit. We were only informed when it was reported by tri-media,” he said.

He added they will visit the area and will issue a notice of violation and stoppage order to the contractor of the building.

Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. earlier said that he will not pay for the construction of the building because it has not undergone the bidding process.

When securing the building permit, it is free for the government agency and the Capitol have also an idea about the process, Sun said.

“They have so many building construction projects and they secured a building permit, but on the case of the Negros First Animal Hub, I do not know why they failed to get a permit,” Sun added.

Sun said he is not against the project and he is only doing his job to require them to secure a building permit.

No groundbreaking

In a related development, PVO staff Venus Jara said there was never a groundbreaking of the Negros First Animal Hub.

She clarified that the photo posted on Decena's Facebook account was only a “fun post” and not an official groundbreaking activity.

Jara, the one who uploaded the photo, said Decena and other PVO personnel sometime in December last year just conducted a visit at the site, which will host the animal hub and livestock and dairy fair every Panaad sa Negros Festival.

“We were just excited that finally there will be a permanent structure for our annual livestock and dairy fair thus, to our excitement we took photos there and captioned it like a groundbreaking,” she said, stressing that “if that was an official groundbreaking, the governor and other officials should be there since it is mainly the province's project.”

The PVO staff, moreover, expressed dismay toward some media outlets (not SunStar Bacolod) for using the photo without the consent of Decena or of the office.

Jara said these media outfits have not even checked or validated whether or not there was really a groundbreaking activity.

“It was unethical to put a context on a photo posted on social media and publishing it without asking for what the true story really is,” she added. (Erwin P. Nicavera)

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph