THE Cebu City Office of the Building Official (OBO) asked Unitop General Merchandise Inc. to stop the reconstruction of their building along Osmeña Boulevared across the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño due to of the lack of permits.
OBO head Josefa Ylanan said the stoppage order would remain in effect until building owners secure locational clearance from the city planning and development office and a building permit from OBO.
“If they continue to defy our stoppage order, we will have to file a criminal complaint against them in court,” Ylanan told Cebu Daily News.
Ylanan said a penalty equivalent to the building permit fee is also imposed on construction projects begun without a building permit.
Permit fee is computed based on the floor area multiplied by P24 per sq. meter for commercial structures and the floor area multiplied by P8 per sq. meters for residential structures.
Ylanan said the two-story building which is owned by the Go family was demolished early this year prior to the establishment of a four-story building.
However, the building owners failed to secure locational clearance and building permit, a violation of the National Building Code.
Ylanan said determination of parking space is a requirement for issuance of locational clearance. Unitop failed to meet the parking requirement.
Their old building lacked parking spaces.
Ylanan said the National Building Code allows for the renovation of structures without parking spaces but requires this in any building reconstruction.
Ylanan said the Unitop building presented to her office a parking space plan. They intend to lease a vacant lot along D. Jakosalem Street a few meters from the construction site.
Still, the parking space was not enough to satisfy their parking space requirement. /Chief Of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac
CITY TO INSPECT RALLOS LOT
CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama said he wants to tap private lawyers in reviewing the Rallos lot case to determine if the city government availed of all remedies before paying the lot’s private owners.
But he said this should not be construed as dissatisfaction with how the city legal office is handling the case.
Rama said he wanted to conduct an ocular inspection of the lot in barangay Sambag I to check its actual use.
“I am going to talk to lawyers. I also need COA to be part of the discussion to make sure that we do have obligations to pay,” he said.
The city government was ordered to pay about P200 million for the lot owned by the late Vicente Rallos which the city expropriated in 1963 for road right of way.
“I have been furnished a copy of the decision but it does not satisfy me. I have some questions on the case history,” he said.
Rama asked City Legal Officer Joseph Bernaldez to furnish him with a copy of the case history.
The mayor said he also wanted to share the case history with his lawyer friends.
“Many heads are always better than one. Besides, we will be using taxpayers’ money to pay for the lot so I wanted to be certain,” he said.
Rama said the heirs of the late Vicente Rallos and their legal counsel visited the mayor’s office on Thursday to claim payments.
“I told them that debts should be paid but not automatically,” he said.
The mayor said he wanted to have the lot checked for unpaid taxes. If its acquisition was made in a public auction, this could be an indication that the property had unpaid taxes from the city.
Rama said he also wanted to be certain that there are no other lot claimants.
“I don’t want things pressed because of the continued computation of interests that we had to pay. I fear for the people’s interest. What’s in my mind is the need to protect people’s money,” he said.Cebu City allocates P16.8 million for PWDs of which P12 million is spent for P2,000 in cash assistance. The remaining P4.8 million is spent for PDAO operations.