BAGUIO CITY – The City Buildings and Architecture office (CBAO) was able to initially visit some 8,943 structures in the different parts of the city as part of its mandate to monitor and inspect the buildings that were constructed on whether or not the same are compliance to the National Building code and other local laws, rules and regulations.
City Building Official Engr. Nazita Bañez said that the said number of structures have been found to have been erected in 41 barangays of the city.
Of the said number of structures, the enumerators who were dispatched by the CBAO found out that there were only some 1,306 structures with building permits while there are only 45 structures with duly issued certificates of occupancy.
Further, it was uncovered that there were only 44 structures with fencing permits while there are only 78 structures with other permits that were issued by the CBAO.
The city building official claimed that there were only 1,448 structures which were able to establish appropriate parking spaces while there were 43 structures that converted their parking spaces to other purposes.
According to the CBAO report, the enumerators were also able to visit some 85 proposed cultural and historical sites in the different parts of the city during the initial period of inspection.
On the other hand, the CBAO noted that there are some 3,012 structures within the 23 barangays of the central business district (CBDA) area wherein there are some 490 structures in the CBD with parking spaces that represent 16.27 percent of the total number of structures within the CBDA area.
The local government department head claimed that there were 29 structures in the CBD with converted parking spaces or .96 percent of the total number of visited structures.
Moreover, there were only 815 structures which were to be with permits that represent 27.06 percent of the total number of structures.
The city building official disclosed that there were 64 structures that have been built in protected areas as defined under the city’s Environment code, 59 structures were said to have violations on creek easements and there are reportedly 5 structures that have been situated in watershed areas.
Bañez emphasized that the results of their visitation of structures are partial and initial and still needs to be verified for accuracy.
The results of the ongoing monitoring and inspection of all structures in the city’s 128 barangays will be made available by the CBAO to the public by the end of the year to ensure that the data that will be released will be the correct one for stakeholders to ascertain the actual number of structures in the different parts of the city.
The CBAO called on building owners to cooperate with the enumerators who will be visiting them in the coming weeks so that the local government will be able to come out with the accurate data on the real number of existing structures in the different parts of the city for policy making and decision making purposes for the crafting of appropriate polices suitable to the prevailing situation of the city.
By Dexter A. See
