BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on third and final reading a proposed ordinance granting amnesty to applicants for electric and water connections in the city for a period of six months.
The ordinance will be effective 15 days after it shall comply with the posting requirement and after the City Mayor shall have signed the local legislative measure.
The ordinance authored by all the members of the City Council stated that due to the time limitations and additional requirements to avail of the amnesty, it claimed there is a need to extend the deadline of the amnesty to qualified applicants in the city.
Earlier, Ordinance No. 15, series of 2016 provides that the amnesty for electricity and water connections in the city shall apply only for a period of four months starting May 10, 2016.
Under existing laws, rules and regulations, owners of titled properties planning to construct structures over their properties are required to secure the certificate of final electrical inspection (CFEI) from the City Building Official but those who do not have titles over their properties will not be issued the said requirement for the absence of their proof of ownership to their parcels of land.
However, the ordinance will not allow those with structures in declared forest reservations and disputed parcels of land to avail of the amnesty that will take effect probably by the middle of January or by the early part of February.
The ordinance stipulated that the grant of amnesty to applicants for electrical and water connections in the different parts of the city will not be a license for the concerned residents to be exempted from the demolition of their structures upon orders of the concerned offices of the local government.
Applicants for the amnesty in electrical and water connections requested the local government to grant an extension of the said privilege to allow them to be able to comply with the stringent requirements imposed by the previous amnesty for them to be able to avail of electrical or water connections.
The council granted the additional period for applicants of electrical and water connections to avail of the amnesty to avoid is conceptions that amnesty is being granted by the local government only during the election period.
Only indigent amnesty applicants will be granted the necessary discounts on the fees collected by city offices relative to the filing of applications for amnesty while those who are capable of paying the fees will be required to pay to the coffers of the local government for purposes of settling their obligations.
The ordinance mandated all applicants to fully comply with all the pertinent requirements for electrical and water connections that include the complete electrical plans duly signed by licensed electrical engineers and the payment of the pertinent regulatory fees before the approval of the amnesty applications to allow the qualified local residents to have access to the city’s basic services.
By Dexter A. See
