City engineer insists on demolition order
NO ORDER, no demolition of illegal structures.
This is the position taken by Dagupan City Engineer Virginia Rosario when asked why her office has not initiated any demolition of officially declared illegal structures in the city.
She said without a written or a verbal order from the mayor’s office, she cannot legally initiate any demolition and will refuse to demolish any illegal structure along the foreshore land in Sitios Silungan and Bliss in Bonuan Binloc without clear orders.
Rosario said despite repeated public pronouncements by Mayor Benjamin Lim and City Administrator Vladimir Mata that she is already under orders to demolish the illegal structures in the area, she has not received any direct order from either of one.
Although Rosario has already issued notices to the owners of the illegal structures informing them of their violations and the consequent penalty and sanction that could be imposed on them by the government, she insists that she needs a direct order to effect the demolition.
She pointed out the legal basis is determined by the office of the city mayor and, therefore, a legal order to the engineering department should emanate from that office.
The buildings of the three resorts, namely, Dimla’s Resort, Tres Gracias Resort and Oro Gracias Resort, have already been notified of their violations and pending penalties including demolition.
The structures in question were deemed illegal for having been built on public land without a building permit and for having used allegedly faked waivers to secure electric connection from the Dagupan Electric Corporation (Decorp).
To date, Decorp is set to disconnect electrical service earlier supplied to 12 houses commercial establishments on the basis of waivers allegedly issued by the office of the city engineer but which were recently certified to be fake by Rosario.
Dominador Liwag, retail service manager of Decorp, said a letter from Rosario listing 12 electrical permits as fictitious will be used as basis for the disconnection.
One such structure is Dimla’s Beach Resort whose electrical service was covered by two fake waivers that bore the signatures of Mayor Benjamin Lim and one fake electrical permit.
The 12 are in addition to the 100 other suspected fake waivers that bear purported forged signatures of Lim and City Administrator Mata which are now the subject of separate investigations by Mata’s office and the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP).
Liwag, clarified, that Decorp has not received any directive or recommendation from either Lim or Mata on what to do with the 100 structures with suspected fake waivers.
Rosario has also disowned six electrical permits presented by owners of structures in Sitio Silungan, including six others purportedly signed by Nestor Dela Torre, who assumed as acting city engineer in 2004 when Rosario was reassigned to another office by Lim.
In addition to its own investigation and that of the mayor’s office, the SP intends to pass a resolution calling on the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the reported operation of a criminal syndicate selling fake waivers to unsuspecting residents and entrepreneurs.
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