CONSTRUCTION of a high-rise condominium on Gorordo Ave. in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City was ordered halted after a portion of the building next to it collapsed at dawn on Monday, Aug. 5, 2019.
The cave-in was initially blamed on the excavation work for the foundation of a planned 32-floor edifice being developed by Vista Residences Inc., the condominium development arm of the Villar-led Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc.
Affected was the side of the Juanita Bldg., which is located at the corner of Gorordo Ave. and Escario St. It used to house the Social Security System office.
The Office of the Building Official (OBO) issued a cease and desist order and ordered the contractor to stop digging and instead work on the affected area.
Mayor Edgardo Labella, OBO Chief Florante Catalan and City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Center head Harold Alcontin, who visited the site, witnessed the damage wrought on the Juanita Bldg. and the contractor’s failure to strengthen the retaining wall that separated it from the excavation.
The contractor has been ordered to submit an incident report to OBO so the latter can determine what really happened.
Based on their inspection, the recent rains might have caused the ground to soften, Catalan said.
Security guards of a bank next door reported the incident to police. The 42 employees of a business process outsourcing firm inside Juanita Bldg. were evacuated to safety.
Police cordoned off the site to prevent anyone from entering the damaged building, which also houses a bank and a dialysis center on the first floor. The building will remain closed, as OBO personnel have yet to finish checking the structure’s integrity.
SunStar Cebu tried to contact the contractor for comment, to no avail.
The contractor may be held liable for violating Section 213 of the Building Code of the Philippines.
Catalan confirmed that OBO received a complaint against the construction during the time of his predecessor, Josefa Ylanan, but the complaint was ignored.
He said they received another complaint from the management of Juanita Bldg. last month.
“There were findings that during the first drilling of the land, water came out of the area. That’s the initial cause of the collapse,” he said.
Catalan pointed out that the developer did comply with the setback rule.
The OBO chief said the contractor can only resume construction once it comes up with a solution to the problem of the collapsed portion of the adjacent building.
The top floor of the four-story Juanita Bldg., which houses the office of a subdivision and a call center, was severely affected by the incident.
According to Abellana Police Station Chief Eduard Sanchez, it was a good thing the BPO employees were on a break during the collapse, while the bank and the dialysis center on the first floor were closed at the time of the incident.
Gisella Bercilla, 22, and her companion were woken up by the sound of crashing steel and cement around 2 a.m. on Monday.
The two, though, went back to sleep because they thought it came from the excavation work.
“We didn’t go out. So we were shocked when morning came and we saw what happened,” she said.
On April 10, 2012, the retaining wall for the excavation of Horizons 101 Cebu on Gen. Maxilom Ave. also caved in and damaged 10 houses.
On Feb. 22, 2017, three houses were damaged and one person was hurt when a crane of a mall construction on N. Bacalso Ave. collapsed. (from PAC of Superbalita Cebu/PJB, JOB)