Convention Center repairs unacceptable

BAGUIO City administrator Boni Dela Peña said rehabilitation work of the Baguio convention center will not be approved by the city.

The city administrator revealed major glitches in work done on the convention center saying during the Ms. Baguio pageant last month, the ceiling of the main hall was in danger of giving forcing him to call the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to help.

Dela Peña said the interior contractor, David Sanchez has completed work and exterior contractor RAJ Juilan will be finished by next year in time for the opening on January 2020.

Dela Peña said the project is by the national government facilitated by the DPWH but asserted the city will not be signing approval of work citing warping floor and issues with chairs installed at the supposedly world class center.

"We will not sign," he said adding the DPWH should ask the city its view on repairs made.

Dela Peña said the contractor, Sanchez, should go back and repair everything at his own cost for the city to be able to use the Convention Center.

The City Administrator said the elevator and canopy will be installed in the next budget cycle.

Rehabilitation of the convention center was rocky with the city and DPWH not seeing eye to eye.

Confusion arose when DPWH presented revised plans for the convention center signed by the mayor without blessings from neither the technical working group, the City Buildings and Architecture Office or the City Council.

Dela Peña, who was then part of the group in his private capacity, said he is aware of the impasses.

Photo by Jean Nicole Cortes VOLUNTARY CHECK-UP. A City Camp bound jeepney driver took advantage of the voluntary smoke emission organized by Lower Rock Quarry barangay captain Benigno Marzan to meet the city’s stringent smoke emission standards.