CPA to Stop Metal Fence Construction

The officials of Cebu Port Authority (CPA) have decided to stop constructing the metal fence around their property near the old Compania Maritima while the Cebu City officials also assured them they will not remove the fence that has already been constructed without permit.

Port and City Hall officials met yesterday and after about an hour of close-door discussion it was agreed to have a status quo pending on the resolution of the issue between the members of the CPA Board and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama.

CPA chief legal officer Yusop Uckung said he will suggest to the CPA Board of Directors that in their meeting they will invite the mayor to be present so they can discuss the matter with him as to why they are fencing the place.

The mayor had already ordered Poblete to remove the metal fence that the CPA had constructed around their property near the old Compania Maritima because it does not have permit from the Office of the Building Officials (OBO).

During the meeting, Poblete and OBO chief Kenneth Carmelita Enriquez told Uckung that it is provided in the National Building Code that all government agencies and instrumentalities are not exempted from securing permit from OBO for any infrastructure projects.

Uckung also stood pat on his argument that Republic Act 7621, the law that created the Cebu Port Authority, empowered the CPA to build infrastructure projects within the port zone even without permit from the local government units.

When the City of Lapulapu had enacted an ordinance requiring the CPA to secure first construction permit for their infrastructure projects, the Regional Trial Court ruled that it is unlawful. Uckung said the same ruling was also affirmed by appellate court.

Section 301 of the Presidential Decree 1096 or the National Building Code of the Philippines provides that “no person, firm or corporation, including any agency or instrumentality of the government shall erect, construct, alter, reppair, move, convert —without first obtaining a building permit from OBO.”

City Legal Officer Joseph Bernaldez said it is very clear in the law that nobody is expempted in securing a building permit for construction projects, even the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The CPA lawyer gave Poblete and Enriquez copies of the memorandum of agreement signed by former CPA general manager Mariano Martinez and former DPWH project director Nilo Pamaylaon, which showed that the three portions of the lots near Compania Maritima were turned over by the DPWH to CPA.

The former sea portion beside the old Compania Maritima port has been affected when the DPWH reclaimed the area for the construction of the ramp and the tunnel passing through Plaza Independencia from the south coastal road.