THE City Council agreed to raise the ongoing rehabilitation of the Baguio Convention Center to Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar.
The legislative body voted to endorse the letter by Councilor Mylen Yaranon to the DPWH Secretary, detailing an impasse with the regional office.
Yaranon implored to Villar to look into the matter so that a safe and world class Baguio Convention Center will be restored.
In her letter, Yaranon reported to Villar the approved and bid out plans that were allegedly not implemented by the regional DPWH led by director Tiburcio Canlas.
“As owner and end user of the Baguio Convention Center, the City Government of Baguio formed a technical working group to draw up the plans which was the basis of the bid out plans used during the bidding process. Any deviation from these plans should have been consulted with the technical Working group of the city through the city building and architecture office,” she said.
The letter also lamented that there was no technical justification as to why bid out plans cannot be implemented.
Yaranon cited a report of the contractor which said that “additional seating in the balcony is not applicable in actual site condition, (as) it will interfere with existing structural members of the building.”
Canlas said this was not reported to the technical working group of the city.
“Had the technical working group of the city, composed of our stakeholders, local architects and engineers, been consulted, they would have come up with a solution, instead of totally deleting or removing the said additional seating balcony,” she added.
“Further concerns were raised detailing no submitted building permit documents were given the City Building and Architecture Office for the repair and rehabilitation of the convention center. Government or public buildings are not exempted from this requirement, which should be the contractor’s responsibility. If anything happens to the structure during and after the implementation, who will be held liable if this did not go through the building permit process?” Yaranon added.
The city has since been at odds with the DPWH over the BCC rehabilitation, with stakeholders asking for a dialog with the department.
The letter is seen as a last resort to set things right with the project.
The decision was made Monday night, during the council session when Yaranon reported to the body the findings from her recent inspection.
Yaranon detailed the work being done in contrast to the bid out plans, pointing to lapses and seeming faults of the present work.
Yaranon also said plastic chairs similar to what is being used for gymnasiums were delivered on the site. She said the BCC is not a gym and upholstered seats should be used similar to the past.
Couniclor Faustino Olowan agreed with Yaranon.
Olowan said the BCC seemed to be cannibalized with the DPWH ongoing work and said the issue must be clarified once and for all as he pushed to endorse the letter to Villar.
The letter will contain the Council resolution asking the DPWH to abide by bid out plans.