THE Baguio City Building and Architects Office (CBAO) advised prospective building owners and contractors to directly consult and engage with their office in acquiring building permits.

In the weekly Talakayan sa Environment Code, CBAO head Engineer Nacita Banez said this call is to ensure buildings to be constructed in the future are safe.

“The present building fees would only cost P2,500 only. It is wrong what others say that it costs around P50,000; P70,000 or P80,000, that is very, very wrong,” Banez said.

The CBAO was created to be able to implement the provisions of the National Building Code of the Philippines (PD 1096) and other related laws.

It ensures all buildings in the city are in conformance with the appropriate architectural design, construction methods, structural standards and criteria.

It is also tasked to prepare programs of work involving detailed engineering plans and estimates for vertical infrastructure development project and other related public works for the city-owned vertical facilities.

“The minimum payment for residential structures are from P2,500 to P5,000, while for commercial buildings, this would depend on the area. What we advise is to compute it at P10 per square meter and this is what is only being paid for at CBAO,” Banez stated.

The CBAO has the mandate to regulate and control location, site, design, quality of materials, construction, use and occupancy of all buildings in the city.

The CBAO is also a recommendatory office which institutes appropriate actions on violations of the building code and other relevant issuances.

“If someone would approach you and would say other amounts rather than what we are sharing the public, please do not entertain such. It is easy to acquire a building permit now as long as your architect or engineers are knowledgeable of the National building code and its referral codes,” Banez added.

The CBAO is also seen as an office which lessen the number of squatting cases in the city, penalize violations, and act as labor support group in repair and maintenance of government buildings aside from supervising the maintenance, improvement and repair of city-owned vertical facilities.