Tuesday, July 31, 2007
City Hall gives councilor 3 days to answer notice of violation
CEBU City’s Office of the Building Official (OBO) gave City Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa three days to respond to their first notice of violation, which was served yesterday afternoon.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez also ordered the City Health Department to send a team of inspectors to check on the
possible health hazards of the ongoing construction of the building on the occupants.
In a phone interview yesterday, City Building Official Antonio Sanchez said he might order Abellanosa to vacate the Asian College of Technology (ACT) property if they fail to comply with the first, second and third notices of violation.
Abellanosa owns the 12-story ACT building on the corner of P. del Rosario and Leon Kilat Sts.
Permit
In the written notice that Sanchez signed, Abellanosa was asked to contact the OBO within three days after they receive the notice so they can discuss the alleged violations committed.
Abellanosa’s school has started holding classes on at least four floors of the building since June without an occupancy permit.
While the councilor has applied for a partial occupancy clearance, he has yet to comply with the requirements yet, Sanchez said.
At this point, however, the OBO will not impose any monetary or administrative fine unless the building administrators fail to get in touch with them in the next three days, he said.
Although Abellanosa will not be given any special treatment, the matter will have to go through due process.
“Upon inspection, we saw that there was illegal occupancy of the building. As a matter of procedure, we have to give the owners first, second and third notices for them to comply with the deficiencies. If they fail to do that, then we will order them to vacate,” Sanchez told Sun.Star Cebu.
He said they sometimes allow partial occupancy of a building but the owner still has to comply with certain requirements.
Abellanosa did comply with requirements, however he wasn’t able to secure the approval of the City Fire Department.
“We will talk with the owners and evaluate how much time we should give them to comply. For me, I think five days should be enough. If they still don’t comply then the councilor will be subject to administrative fines. If they still refuse to comply, we can even bring the matter to court,” the building official said.
In another interview, City Fire Marshal Esmael Codilla said they are still waiting for OBO’s endorsement for them to conduct a second inspection.
Codilla said that as soon as he receives the endorsement, he will send an inspection team to the ACT building to check on the compliance of fire safety requirements.
If everything is in place, Codilla said his office will issue the certificate of partial occupancy. (LCR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 31, 2007 issue)
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