Zamboanga City mayor orders resumption of shelter construction for ‘siege’ victims

Zamboanga Mayor Isabelle “Beng” Climaco. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco on Thursday lifted the suspension order on the construction of housing units at the Lustre Homeowners Subdivision in Barangay (village) Sta. Catalina here.

Climaco’s approval of the resumption of construction work came after the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the developers pledged to comply with a list of recommendations that a body – tasked to look into reports of substandard transitory housing and formed by the city hall – earlier submitted.

On top of the recommendations is for the NHA to get the appropriate permits for the implementation of the project.

The NHA and its contractor Billray Construction also agreed to retrofit 51 units being built to improve its durability.

Climaco said aside from this, the contractor also agreed to submit an affidavit of undertaking, assuming full responsibility in case implemented measures to strengthen the units still result in failure of the structures.

The contractor, likewise, agreed to reconstruct housing units that collapsed and were demolished and those that were assessed to be beyond repair, Climaco added.

Other measures to be adopted by the contractor include: “appropriate plastering to be done on the CHB walls to include field density testing on the soil bearing capacity, compliance with appropriate construction methods and section 705 national Structural Code of the Philippines series of 2010, soil compaction of the housing area and that construction materials used be of good quality and sourced from accredited suppliers.”