THE City Government of Davao is targeting to finish the City Archive and Records Center (Carc) building near the Davao City Overland and Transport Terminal by the third quarter of the year.
Carc head Anne Victoria Silvosa said the construction is ongoing for the building, which will house the city's perpetual records and records that should be kept in a limited number of years before it can be disposed.
"They are trying to finish it in seven months so we're planning to open it this July or August," Silvosa said.
"We know for a fact that we have read several competitions before that we lost to other cities because one of the requirements is that we should have archives building, we do not have that before, but we will have one now. The old records of the city, old maps, old letters, resolutions and ordinances dating back to 1950s will be there. Students, scholars, interested persons can come to access these records, and the young people, will have better appreciation of what the city is like years ago," she said.
She said historical events in pictures, photos, and videos will be placed there.
"We will have central repository of the city's past," Silvosa said.
The building will also house records that cannot be immediately disposed or those records that are kept for limited number of years.
"For example, records of employees, you cannot throw that away not until fifteen years after retirement, if you commit mistake there is already a penalty of one million pesos and forfeiture of benefits," she said.
Silvosa said the changes in the building's design caused the delay of the construction, which was supposed to begin after its groundbreaking held during the term of former city mayor, now president, Rodrigo Duterte.
She said they also made sure to follow building specifications of the National Archive's Office.
"There has been a law which specified that the building should have no windows, no crevices, and no garden because this will invite the insects. Walls are especially designed for humidity control, temperature control and gas control. If there is forever, the records will be placed there forever, so there is a need for maximum condition for proper preservation and protection of the records," she said.
She said the building will not look modern, but will look like a box with design patterned after the city hall's facade.
To keep the efficiency of record keeping, Silvosa said they have made a move to dispose documents that are already over retention period. They are also working on a project for the digitalization of records.
"What we did is we studied the less paper [scheme], the City Government now has a plan to implement digitalization, wherein all the records existing and permanent, we digitize it and put it into the central server," she said.