CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES

Debate rages on issuance of permit

WHO will have the last say on building permits?

 While the issue is being debated, MetroState Realty Corporation remains adamant and unfazed by threats of stoppage by the city engineer as it continues the construction of its tourism-commercial complex project in the former Magsaysay Park without any building permit. Reason? Nobody is stopping it.

City Engineer Virginia Rosario has said she remains firm on her stand that her office cannot and will not issue a permit to the company until she receives a copy of the resolution passed by the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) in its special session of December 19, 2006 authorizing Mayor Benjamin Lim to enter intro contract with MetroState.

Despite this, however, her office has not stepped in to stop the construction.

Meanwhile, Mayor Lim has already issued a memo asking her to explain within 24 hours why she continuously refuses to issue a building permit.

Preparing her reply, she said her office will continue to strictly require all builders of houses and other infrastructure to secure building permits consistent with the National Building Code, adding that MetroState is no different from the others.

Rosario said MetroState must secure its permit soon because it is erecting a building on a government-owned land.

She pointed out that she will make it clear in her reply to Lim that she cannot issue the building permit until the contractor submits a copy of the city council resolution authorizing the city mayor to enter into a contract with MetroState.

She cited a letter of Sangguniang Panlungsod Secretary Jorge Estrada dated 2 June 2007 in response to her own letter, stating that upon the instruction of the SP presiding officer, Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, the city council is not yet in a position to transmit a copy of the resolution due to the absence of certain requirements listed as a condition when the resolution was passed.

The council had required that the copy of the minutes of the June 19, 2006 special session be attached to the approved resolution, together with a copy of the committee report of Councilor Teofilo Guadiz III that provided the basis for the approval of the resolution. To date, Guadiz has not signed his report.

Guadiz, however, is now singing a different tune after defending the project. He now maintains the ongoing construction by MetroState is illegal because Vice Mayor Fernandez has not officially issued the resolution notwithstanding the fact that the resolution authorizing Mayor Lim to enter into a contract with the company was tackled by the SP.

Meanwhile, outgoing Councilor Alex de Venecia told the PUNCH that the city government must compel MetroState to respect the law and stop the project now.

CAN’T DEMOLISH

Rosario said she already sent a letter on June 1 to Romualdo Siapno, the applicant for the building permit in behalf of the MetroState, reiterating her requirement for the issuance of the building permit.

But in a display of arrogance, she said the workers at the project site refused to accept her letter.

When asked why she cannot move to demolish the construction since it has no building permit, Rosario said this is because of the existence of a contract already signed by Mayor Lim and MetroState.

However, despite her admitting knowledge of the existence of the contract, she could not show a copy.

Vice Mayor Fernandez also denied having seen a copy of the contract in spite of insistence of the office of the city mayor that indeed, a contract has been signed that gave MetroState legal right to build on the Magsaysay Park area. -LM

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