Tomas freezes permits for high-rise buildings
Learning from the Metro Ayala fire experience, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has ordered the Office of the Building Official to freeze all building permit applications for high-rise buildings in the city until a safety standard is established.
Osmeña said he intends to meet all developers to discuss the safety standards on how to address a big fire.
“On my own, I’m thinking of putting a ban on the new construction of high-rise buildings until we can reasonably assure that there would be safety standards,” he told reporters.
He said that high-rise buildings are those four stories and up.
According to the mayor, approval of building permit applications for highrise buildings should be suspended until further notice. He, however, said the city government will consider the ongoing projects but should be subjected to a closer look and review the safety compliance.
Osmeña said the city and all stakeholders should take the incident of the Metro Ayala as a lesson to improve the safety standards of the buildings.
“The bad news is that I'm deeply concerned about our inability to control a major fire,” he said, adding that the city should purchase breathing apparatus for the disaster team and other equipment to increase the capability of the Bureau of Fire Protection.
OBO CHIEF Josefa Ylanan said she has yet to consolidate all the permit applications for high-rise buildings.
PROBE ON
SPRINKLER SYSTEM
Osmeña said there should be an investigation why the sprinklers of the store were not functional when it could have helped put out the fire inside.
He added that another issue that should be resolved is the location of the generators of the mall, which were placed on the fourth floor.
“Now, let's learn a lesson from this. I want to talk to the developers themselves. I will not compromise the safety of the people of Cebu. This might be God's way of warning us that something is wrong with the way we are developing,” he said.
Osmeña is pushing for a random inspection of the sprinkler system to ensure that it is working.
Ylanan said she will wait for the report of the BFP on the sprinkler system. She explained that it is a requirement before a building is granted occupancy permit.
EXTINGUISHED
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fire Protection declared at 4:18 p.m. yesterday that the fire in Metro Gaisano Ayala has been extinguished almost three days after it broke out Friday evening.
BFP-7 Director Samuel Tadeo said the fire-out declaration took a long time even after it was declared under control midday Saturday because they made sure that it will not rekindle.
“Medyo natagalan ang pagfire-out kasi sinigurado talaga natin nawala nang natitira na baga. May nakakastandby na firetruck pa din, naninigurado lang tayo,” said Tadeo.
He expressed his appreciation to all the stakeholders who helped and supported the entire fire operations since Friday.
The Ayala Mall management was also thankful to the BFP personnel and those who have volunteered to help extinguish the fire.
“We thank the Bureau of Fire, the Cebu City Disaster and Risk Management Office, Philippine National Police and all emergency responders and volunteers who tirelessly worked around the clock to put out the fire and ensure everyone was safe. Thankfully, there are no reported injuries or casualties resulting from the incident,” the statement reads.
The mall management said it will reopen as soon as the cleanup and system inspections are done.
Tadeo said the investigation into the fire incident has started yesterday. A composite team of 15 personnel from the Cebu City, Provincial, and Regional Fire Offices was created to conduct the investigation.
The team already started collecting debris and other materials inside the building for laboratory examination to determine the cause of the fire.
BFP –7 Assistant Regional Director Rolando Orbeta said they are also inviting some of the employees, specifically those assigned at the stock room of the toy's department at the third floor, to shed light on the incident.
OBO is also waiting for the results of the meeting with the structural engineers of Metro Gaisano and Ayala Center on whether or not the building should be demolished.
“But as to the total nga demolition of the building, estoryahon pa namosa structural engineer kay they know unsay strength nga ilang gibutang nga kabilya,” Ylanan said.
Ylanan said the total demolition will pave the way for the construction of a new facility, which will be compliant with the new standards of the building code.—