Eva’s Hotel: A landmark no more

COTABATO CITY -- The once luxurious Eva’s Hotel located in the heart of Kidapawan City, North Cotabato is up for demolition, with the local government putting the responsibility of undertaking it to its owners.

This came about as Kidapawan City Mayor Joseph Evangelista said the city government has no allotted funds for the demolition of the hotel, following the collapse of its facade due to the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit North Cotabato last Oct. 31, 2019.

“The demolition of the private–owned hotel or similar structure is the lookout of its owner and not of the local government as it entails a huge amount not included in our calamity fund intended for people’s assistance,” Evangelista said in an interview by a local radio station Monday.

Evangelista said the hotel’s demolition would require demolition experts, as well as heavy machinery such as demolition excavators or wrecking balls, which the city government does not have in its pool of heavy equipment.

The management of the hotel has been summoned, including local hotelier Eva Benjamin, for them to discuss the process of the demotion that should commence soonest, Evangelista said.

“The collapsed hotel continues to pose a threat to the people of Kidapawan considering that it is situ

ated at the junction of Claudio Street and Quezon Boulevard, the city’s commercial district,” Evangelista said.

The six-story hotel building, built a decade ago, incurred cracks since the magnitude 6.3 quake on Oct. 16, a foreshock to the magnitude 6.6 Oct. 29 tremor, prompting city building officials to declare it as unfit for occupancy.

At least seven hotel employees, mostly utility workers, were safely rescued after the hotel’s facade gave way on

Oct. 31 due to the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit North Cotabato, the third strong tremor so far that shook the province recently.

Before its collapse, Eva’s Hotel, a Department of Tourism–accredited establishment, offers a wide array of services to its guests and patrons before a trek to the northern side of Mt. Apo, the country’s highest peak, situated in the area.

“Sad to say, that the hotel is a landmark no more,” Evangelista said.