Mall developer offers to correct damage

Cracks fround in the wall of the Al Khaitiah Mosque in Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City, are causing friction between some Muslim members and the  developer of an ongoing mall construction beside it.

Imam Aladdin Ubpon, a mosque leader, is demanding that the developer  pay for the damage and reconstruct the mosque, which will be the venue of prayer of some 1,000 Muslims on Monday to celebrate  Eid Al Adha or the “Day of Sacrifice,” which was declared a national nonworking holiday.

Cracks were found in the administrative building and in the comfort room of the mosque, which Ubpon blamed on the developer for removing the retaining wall of the mosque.

Paravisible Construction Co., the developer of the ongoing mall construction,  said the firm could repair the cracks but  can’t be expected to build a new mosque.

Ponce Para,  vice president for operations, said the Muslim leader  was  asking “too much” from them with the two requests.

He said  representatives of the Cebu City’s Office of Building Official (OBO) inspected the cracks four days ago and declared the mosque safe for use.

Para also said that the firm’s representatives had agreed with Muslim authorities to pay them P141,000 for the disturbance caused  during the construction of the mall beside the mosque.

“We told them that we are willing to make the restoration. But they said that they wanted to settle. I think that’s too much,” Para told Cebu Daily News.

“What they are asking is too much and disadvantageous on our part,” he said.

But Ubpon said that their engineers advised them to reconstruct the mosque.

Ubpon also said that he had filed a complaint at the OBO Cebu City.

“We are simply requesting for them to prevent our property from collapsing. We are just asking  for respect,” Ubpon said.

Six families have lived in the property since 1993.

Ubpon said that the cracks appeared and the soil under the mosque moved last month at the height of the rains brought by typhoon Ramon.

Ubpon said the rains caused the soil to move because the retaining wall of the mosque was removed last August.

Loud noises of heavy equipment used in the mall construction also prevents them from praying peacefully, Ubpon said.

The Muslims pray five times a day, and on Fridays, the prayer time occupies the whole day.

Ubpon and representatives of Paravisible Construction Co. will meet on Tuesday at the OBO office to discuss the situation.

On Monday, around 1,000 Muslims are expected to celebrate the Eid Al Adha or the “Day of Sacrifice” in the Al Khaitiah Mosque.

Eidl Adha commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael in obedience to God, before God intervened to provide him with a ram to sacrifice instead.

Ubpon said that Muslims also mark the day with visits to  relatives and the mending of broken relationships.