Baguio building owners without permits warned

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY -- The city government warned building owners in this summer capital in titled lots but still not covered by building permits.
    Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the city government will give building owners chance to legalize the status of their structures to make them compliant with Presidential Decree 1096 or the National Building Code.
    City Building Official Architect Johnny Degay said they have started farming out letters to qualified structure owners at DPS Compound where more than 30 unpermitted buildings within titled lots had been identified.  Others in line are barangays Cabinet Hill, Marcoville and Teachers Camp.
    The letter would inform and encourage the building owners to signify their intent to apply for building permit by accomplishing the form found at the link: https://tinyurl.com/4jwcz2fj.
    They will be given 15 days to initiate the proceedings and if after 15 days they failed to signify their intention, they will be given a 15-day extension through a follow-up letter.
    If they will still fail to secure the permit despite the extension then they city will be forced to issue a notice of violation and commence the proceedings as per the building code.
    The city leveled up its building permit program starting with an inventory of all existing permitted and unpermitted structures.
    The census has so far covered a total of 120,000 structures in the different barangays and out of this, 80 percent or 96,000 were found to have no building permits.
    To address this problem, the mayor ordered the implementation of a program to help those without building permits to secure their own permits and legalize the status of their buildings through simplified procedures starting with those whose structures are built on titled lots or covered by a notice of award.
    To date the CBAO said they have received only 100 applications from the targeted sector.
    The mayor said the city should double its efforts to convince them to secure their permits and facilitate the process.
    The city even coordinated with the different groups of professionals like civil and electrical engineers to lower their fees to help applicants comply with the requirements and City Administrator Bonifacio Dela Pena said that the associations had agreed to the city’s request.