Saturday, October 06, 2007 Baguio drug testing center still lacks facilities
THE drug testing center at the Baguio City Health Services Office (CHSO), built in 2005, could not be used up to this time because it still lacks facilities for it to be operational.
There is no truth to previously published reports that the reason why the structure has not been used up to this time is because of the absence of an occupancy permit, stressed CHSO chief Zoraida Clavio.
Clavio said the absence of an occupancy permit is not a major hindrance to the operation of the testing center but the absence of facilities like a telephone line, Internet connection and comfort room. "I hope this would not be magnified by the media as the only reason," she said.
Because clients availing of the center's services have to be confidential, Clavio said these facilities have to be independent from the other facilities used at the CHSO.
Several requests have been made at the City Council for another appropriation for the purchase of facilities but other than the P200,000 used to buy a freezer and a computer set, no other allocation were made.
Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda last week filed a proposed resolution urging the City Buildings and Architecture Office (CBAO) to grant an occupancy certificate to the drug testing center so that it could begin operation.
CBAO Chief Oscar Flores explained that his office could readily issue an occupancy permit if only the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the agency that built the building, applied for the permit.
Before an occupancy permit is issued, a building permit has to be secured first. For government projects, these are usually issued for free. However, the DPWH never sought these permits and proceeded with the construction, Flores revealed. (RO)
