| By MANUEL "Boy" MEJORADA |

The premature transfer of certain departments of the Iloilo City government to the still-to-be-completed City Hall exposed the public to unnecessary hazards and the contractor took heavy risks to let that happen, an architecture professor and professional said Wednesday.

“It is basic for buildings to undergo rigid inspection by the Bureau of Fire Protection, City Engineers Office and mechanical engineers to ensure that the edifice is safe for occupancy,” Melvin Lataquin said. “There is also a need for a certificate of occupancy, even on partial basis,” he added.

Lataquin, who was guest of the weekly Kapehansa Bali public affairs program, said he had gone into the building two weeks ago and saw many violations of the National Building Code and Fire Code of the country.

“There are violations left and right,” he said.

Lataquin also branded as “exorbitantly” overpriced the total cost of P710 million to build the project. Roughly, the unit cost for the City Hall is P44,000 per square meter, he said.

“In my long years as architecture professor and practitioner, I have never come across this kind of unit cost for a building,” he said.

Lataquin has taught architecture at the University of San Agustin for about 30 years now.

Lataquin said that a building of the same size can be put up - bare, without partitions and furniture - for only P18,000 per square meter. A first-class building complete with airconditioning and furniture will cost only P25,000 per square meter, he said.

He described the cost for the project as “shameful”.

Lataquin said the contractor took great risks in acceding to the demand of City Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog to let several city government departments to transfer to their new office spaces. Aside from safety issues, the contractor would remain liable for any damage that might be caused, he said.

Lataquin said that one elevator in the City Hall had already malfunctioned after just a few days of use because it apparently didn’t undergo the required inspection by a mechanical engineer, the building official and fire inspectors.

He had also observed “flagrant violations” of the Fire Code in the City Hall, he said.

For instance, he didn’t see fire extinguishers beside the stand pipe and fire hose cabinet, he pointed out. There was also no testing of the fire sprinkler system to make sure it works, he said.

Lataquin added that there were no “exit” signages that would direct people toward the fire exits in case of fire.

“I am greatly disturbed at these violations, especially because safety issues are being ignored” he said. He noted that even ordinary houses could not be occupied by owners without first obtaining a certificate of occupancy.

Lataquin also described the City Hall as making a mockery of the National Building Code when it neglected to provide space for parking.

He cited Rule 19, section 803, of the Code that provides that buildings to be constructed must provide a car parking slot for every 125 square meters of floor area. For the City Hall which has a total floor area of 16,000 square meters, the Code requires it to have at least 128 car parking slots, he said.

“The City Hall is not exempt from the National Building Code,” he said.

Lataquin said the building has also violated the set-back requirement for the road-right-of-way to allow for the side walk and parking.

“The building sits on the sidewalk,” he said. This is one project he has seen that broke almost every rule in the Building Code, he said.*