BAGUIO CITY – The chairman of the City Council Committee on Market, Trade, Commerce and Agriculture pointed out that it is high time for the local government to impose a moratorium in the construction of high rise buildings considering that the city is already congested, especially in terms of the presence of huge structures that tend to ruin the state of the view of the skyline.
Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr., committee chairman, said that it is unfortunate that building owners whose permits are not granted by the local government for the put up of high rise structures often bring the matter to the attention of higher authorities in the public works department in Manila which are eventually granted most of the time, thus, the presence of unauthorized high rise structures right at the heart of the city.
He added that there should also be a moratorium that will be imposed by the local government on the put up of additional overpasses and flyovers in the city considering that there are already numerous similar structures that were erected, thus, the need for concerned government agencies and the local government to restore to other modes of heeling address vehicular and pedestrian traffic instead of relying on the put up of such structures.
The alderman claimed that the local government should not be totally blamed for the proliferation of high rise structures in the city because the concerned department was able to do its job in strictly enforcing the needed regulations on the height limit for buildings that will be erected in the city.
However, he revealed that enterprising building owners resorted in seeking reconsideration with the public works department on the decision of the City Building Official not to allow high rise structures that resulted to their approval without considering the decision of the concerned building official who is aware of the prevailing situation in the city.
Yangot authored an ordinance that is now pending in study and recommendation before the local legislative body seeking for the strict imposition of a moratorium on the construction of high rise structures in the different parts of the city considering the proliferation of structures that are already beyond the 8-storey building height limit.
According to him, the put up of structures in the different parts of the city is inevitable because Baguio City is a trade and commercial center not only in the Cordillera but also in Northern Luzon but owners of the structures that will be built should conform with the building height limit imposed by approved local ordinances to prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents that might compromise the safety of life and limb in the future.
Yangot argued if there will untoward incidents that would happen concerning the existence of high rise structures in the city, those authorities in the public works department central office who approved the same should be made the ones responsible for their actions and not the local officials considering that they did their part in rejecting the plans and specifications for the existence of high rise structures but their decisions were reversed when appealed in the central government which should not be the case in respect to the authorities who are actually familiar with the prevailing situation in the city.
By Dexter A. See
