City engineer awaits mayor’s demolition order
CITY Engineer Virginia Rosario is raring to demolish the illegal structures along the Dagupan beach shoreline but still the mayor’s office has not issued a specific order to proceed with the demolition.
She said neither Mayor Benjamin Lim nor City Administrator Vlad Mata has issued the order contrary to the latter’s claim that there is a standing memorandum ordering the city engineer to monitor all illegal structures in the beach area and was under instruction to demolish those without a building permit as provided for in the National Building Code.
She denied her office received any memorandum to that effect from Mayor Lim.
Rosario earlier declared the illegal structures along the foreshore land in Barangay Bonuan Binloc as illegal and would be demolished unless the owners can show a title of ownership following three notices of warning from her office.
The city engineer said in a radio interview last week that her office will only carry out a demolition soon as there is an “order coming from higher than her”, referring to either Lim or Mata.
The presence of the illegal structures, consisting of beach houses and inns located at the back of the Bliss site, were confirmed by members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) led by Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez when they visited the site during an outside council session at the Ceralde Integrated School in Bonuan Binloc last Nov. 14.
The SP brought the matter to the attention of the city engineer’s office, the authority for issuing building permits.
The structures include resorts and spas, the biggest of which is reportedly owned by a Diaz-Gandara family, built along the foreshore land just five meters away from the sea.
BARANGAY CONCERN
Residents of the Bonuan Binloc raised the issue before the council.
Rosario said that Barangay Chairman Pedro Gonzales never reported to her office that structures were being constructed on public lands in his jurisdiction.
Rosario cited a set of guidelines issued by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo that placed the responsibility on the barangay chairman to report any structure rising in his or her area of jurisdiction, whether these are illegal or not, to the city engineering office.
Gonzales was re-elected barangay chairman in October last year after a three-year hiatus, replacing former chairman Ronald Torio. The structures were reportedly built upon his assumption of office.
After warning to owners of five structures, Rosario noted there are more illegal buildings in the area where the foreshore land now appear to have been converted into a subdivision with all the lands parceled out into individual lots.
NOV. 21 SESSION
Rosario maintained that her office did not issue a building permit to any of these structures and expressed surprise how the owners were able to obtain a connection from the Dagupan Electric Corporation (Decorp).
Decorp is obliged by law to ask for a building permit as a requirement for service provision.
It was earlier reported that Decorp complied with the request upon receipt of waivers issued by the mayor’s office signed by Mr. Mata.
The SP has invited Decorp Operations Officer Augusto Sarmiento in its regular session on Nov. 21 to shed light on the matter.
Rosario and Mata were also invited by the SP on the same day, however, council members are doubtful that they will attend in view of the memorandum of the mayor dated Oct. 4, 2011 ordering department heads not to attend to any SP session or committee hearing without clearance from his office.
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