Bacolod City District Engineer Abraham Villareal said Monday, August 27, they are now securing a building permit from the Office of the Building Official (OBO) on the school buildings that were constructed from 2014 to 2016.
“We are on a rush to secure the building permit to resolve the issue on the school buildings that were constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH,) from 2014 to 2016,” Villareal said.
He said he already told Engineer Isidro Sun Jr., head of OBO, they are willing to comply with the requirements.
Last month, OBO served a notice of violation to various public schools, both high school and elementary, for the construction of the school buildings without a building permit.
Sun had earlier said that the schools violated Section 301 of the National Building Code which stated that no person, firm or corporation, including any agency or instrumentality of the government, shall construct alter, repair, convert, use, occupy, move, demolish, and add any building or structure or any portion thereof or cause the same to be done without obtaining a building permit thereof from the OBO assigned in the place where the subject building is located or to be done.
“We are not collecting permit fees, but they need to pay with the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP). There were about 12 school buildings from various schools, both high school and elementary, constructed without building permit,” he added.
Villareal said it was the previous contractors of the school building project that failed to apply for a building permit because of its non-inclusion in the contract’s budget.
“When I assumed my post, I already required the contractor to secure a building permit before the construction of the building,” he said.
Villareal added they need to comply with the building permit to ensure the safety of the students.