The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) formally agreed on Thursday to allow the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to take charge of implementing the Fire Code on Thursday, coincidentally just a day before a fire hit two buildings at the Cavite Economic Zone.
Peza signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the BFP, surrendering to the latter the responsibility of implementing the fire code.
Prior to this, Peza had insisted that it would implement the code in its own economic zones, noting the competency of its agency over the issue.
A copy of the MOA was shared to media over the weekend.
It was signed a day after facilities of the House Technologies Inc. (HTI) in an economic zone in Cavite caught fire, according to a media report. The company’s factory also caught fire in February last year.
“The BFP shall be responsible for the implementation of the Fire Code of the Philippines (FCP) among Peza-registered enterprises,” the MOA read.
It said that BFP would now issue the Fire Safety Evaluation Clearance (FSEC), Fire Safety Inspection Clearance (FSIC) and other related clearances in less than a week for Peza-registered firms.
The document also said that, from now on, Peza could no longer renew expired FSICs it previously issued. The FSICs that haven’t expired yet would be considered valid until the expiration date.
In a statement, Peza Director General Charito Plaza said HTI and sister company SCAD Services Pte., Ltd. (SCAD) occupied “old” buildings. Plaza said in a previous media report that the fire actually belonged to SCAD services.
Both, she said, are under the HRD Group of Companies.
“Being the pioneer locators HTI and SCAD occupy old buildings which are more than 20 years old,” Plaza said, noting that there were 750 affected workers.
“HTI and SCAD will continue to pay the salary of the affected workers, until they are deployed to their sister companies,” she said.
She said the extent of the damage, as well as the cause of the fire, had not yet been determined by BFP. /atm