OBO Issues ‘CDO’ vs Expanding Bldg.

The Office of the Building Officials (OBO) will issue Thursday a ‘cease and desist’ order to the management of a building on Escario Street corner Gorordo Avenue whose sidewalk expansion already encroaches on the road.

Cebu City Engineer Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez sent a team of inspectors from the Office of the Building Officials after Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella instructed them to look into the report that part of Escario Street is used by a private project.

Considering that Escario Street is a national road, Labella also asked the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to be involved in the investigation on why the contractor of the project encroached about one meter of the road.

The three-storey concrete building used to be leased by the Social Security System (SSS) and currently used as a medical establishment, is without proper parking area.

Enriquez said that the inspectors told her that they will be issuing a notice for illegal construction Thursday.

“Pwede nato na ipa-restore nila. Nahibulong lang g’yud ko nganong gibuhat na nila,” the city engineer said.

DPWH district engineer Nicomedes Leonor said his men told him that the project has no construction permit from the Office of the Building Officials.

About 10 laborers are doing the project for three to four nights now, and they usually start work at 8 o’clock in the evening. They covered the place to conceal the new curve and gutter, which is more than one meter from the original curve and gutter.

OBO inspectors said the place is exactly one kilometer from the Provincial Capitol building because the kilometer post No. 1 can still be seen at the old location of the original curve and gutter.

The building’s administrator reportedly just want to expand the curve and gutter so that the expanded area can be used as the building’s parking area for vehicles of their clients.

The City has an ordinance that requires parking area, and for buildings constructed beyond 1992 to have parking spaces parallel to the building.