Owners of existing unpermitted buildings urged to begin permit procedure

The city government continues to urge owners of existing buildings located in titled lots but are still not covered by building permits to begin securing their permits.

This is in line with the program giving residents the opportunity to legalize the status of their structures and make them compliant with the Presidential Decree 1096 or the National Building Code.

City Building Official Arch. Johnny Degay said the City Buildings and Architecture Office said they have farmed out express of intent letters to qualified structure owners at DPS Compound where more than 30 unpermitted buildings within titled lots had been identified. 

Degay said only six have so far responded and signified their intent to apply for permit.

They will also distribute letters to residents in the same situation in barangays Cabinet Hill, Marcoville and Teachers Camp.

The letter would inform and encourage the building owners to signify their intent to apply for building permit by accomplishing the form found at the link: https://tinyurl.com/4jwcz2fj.

They will be given 15 days to initiate the proceedings and if after 15 days they failed to signify their intention, they will be given a 15-day extension through a follow-up letter.

If they still fail to secure the permit despite the extension then the city will be forced to issue a notice of violation and commence the proceedings as per the building code.

The city earlier conducted an inventory of existing permitted and unpermitted structures in all barangays and has so far covered a total of 120,000 structures in the different barangays.

Of those inventoried, 80 percent or 96,000 structures were found to have no building permits.

Since the city launched the building permit program, a total of 127 applied for permits.

The mayor said the city should continue to facilitate permit issuance to help residents legalize the status of their buildings.

The city even coordinated with the different groups of professionals like civil and electrical engineers to lower their fees to help applicants comply with the requirements and City Administrator Bonifacio Dela Pena said that the associations had agreed to the city’s request. – Aileen P. Refuerzo