SP gives contractor deadline

to process occupancy permit

CORTES, Bohol, April 8 (PIA)—The Capitol legislators have given a contractor a month to complete the processing of the occupancy permit for the new Capitol building, even as the multi-million government hub should bot have been receiving clients and the employees should not have been there, as without a valid occupancy permit, sitting there is against the national Building Code.

This as the Office of the City Building Official has confirmed that the new Provincial Capitol has not been issued an occupancy permit.

The lack of an issued valid occupancy permit is due to the failure of the Capitol, since it was turned over and occupied years back, to comply with the standard requirements set so the local authorities can grant a favorable action to the permit application.

It may be recalled that it was Vice Governor Donisio Victor Balite who first officially inquired about the occupancy status of the new Capitol Building, considering that it has already been accepting clients and the general public as the hub of the Provincial Government operations.

Engr. Teodoro P. Estoque of the City Engineer’s Office however informed the Sangguniang Panlalawigan that a Permit to Construct was applied and the City Engineers Office issued its certificate on November 7, 2017 with Permit Number B-17110609.

After the construction was completed, the City Engineers Office again inspected the building on October 23, 2018, annotated some of the things that need to be corrected while the Fire Safety Inspection Certificate for the new multi million building was issued August 20, 2020, with some corrections.

The Office of the City Building Official also received a copy of the Fire Safety Inspection Certificate, and waited for the Capitol to comply with the necessary requirements for a building that is safe for public occupancy.

As per the Capitol General Services Officer Engr Glen Doloritos, Capitol has contracted and outsourcing company called BM Marketing to facilitate the Capitol’s Occupancy Permit application.

But Wilmar Beato of BM- Marketing, confirmed that the application for occupancy permit is still in the process of completion.

For months now, BM Marketing has not even been processing the papers, uncertain of who would be Capitol’s authorized person to sign the papers and the necessary documents for the occupancy application.

It was not also learned if BM Marketing is also tasked to install the necessary corrections to upgrade the building into one suitable for occupancy.

The Provincial Legal Office has also advised BM that the Governor of the Province, Governor Erico Aristotle C. Aumentado, is usually the authorized person to sign the documents for application, but with an authority granted by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

On this, the SP Committee tackling the issue requested Engr. Noel E. Mayurgas, of the DPWH- Region VII and Beato of BM- Marketing create a timeline of one month and prioritize the occupancy permit application considering that it is already past due. (rahc/PIA_7/Bohol)