City to pursue demolition of unstable structures
BAGUIO CITY – (9 March 2021) – The city will be pursuing the demolition of illegal and unstable structures that were erected along Marcos Highway and Naguilian Road to pave the way for the implementation of the Department of Public Works and Highways road widening project and to ensure the safety of life and limb in the said areas.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong directed the City Buildings and Architecture Office (CBAO) to implement the dismantling of the reported unstable structures that were earlier affected by the ongoing road widening project.
He stated that it is important to demolish the aforesaid illegal and unstable structures to ensure the protection of life and limb and to remove the eye sores in the said areas.
For his part, City Building Official Arch. Johnny Degay disclosed that the structures have no building permits and were already issued notices of violation.
He admitted that some of the structures had already become unstable because of the effect of the road widening project, thus, the need for the aforesaid structures to be demolished before any untoward incident will happen.
According to him, the CBAO is just awaiting the lapse of the notices of violation that were previously issued against the building owners before calling for the required pre-demolition conference prior to the implementation of the dismantling of the illegal and unstable structures if owners will not agree to voluntarily remove their structures.
Degay revealed that the areas where the unstable structures were constructed have no titles in the name of the owners as the same form part of the road-right-of-way of the national roads, thus, the existence of the structures in the areas is considered to be illegal, and that said structures must be demolished in the first place.
Last year, the public works department in close coordination with the local government aggressively implemented the mandated road widening project along major roads around the city that caused the dismantling of hundreds of illegal structures that were found to have encroached on the prescribed road-right-of-way of national roads pursuant to existing laws, rules and regulations.
The city building official asserted that the local government is inclined to aggressively implement the government’s road widening project to help in reclaiming built up portions of national roads and ease the worsening road congestions.
The widened portions of the roads are now being concreted after the public works department provided the necessary funds. – Dexter A. See
