BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance prohibiting the putting up of residential, institutional and educational, or any vertical structure in identified danger zones or high-risk areas in the city.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. stated it shall be unlawful for any person, establishment, firm or entity to construct residential, institutional, education or any vertical structure in identified danger zones or high-risk areas in the city to guarantee the safety of life and limb, especially during the occurrence of natural and man-made calamities.
Under the provisions of the proposed ordinance, any person, natural or juridical, found to have violated the local legislative measure shall be fined P5,000 plus the summary demolition of the structure.
Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution provides that the State shall ensure the maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the blessing of democracy.
In the city, Yangot pointed out one of the critical bugging problems is the unabated squatting.
Further, migrants continue to enter every available space, legally or otherwise, even areas that are declared as danger zones thereby putting their safety and security risk.
Yangot added the proposed ordinance seeks to ensure the maintenance of peace and order, protection of life and property by prohibiting people from occupying areas declared as danger zones or in geographical areas in which the probability of damage, injury, loss or other undesirable outcome is at its highest.
Earlier, the Cordillera office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB-CAR turned over to the local government a geohazard map that identified the low, medium and high-risk areas in the city to guide local residents and building officials on the determination of the appropriate mitigating measures that could be adopted to prevent the untoward incidents that put people at risk.
He claimed local residents wanting to build their structures in the city must always seek the appropriate clearance from the concerned government agencies and the departments of the local government before putting up their structures to avoid serious repercussions if their structures are found to have been built in identified geohazard areas.
He urged local residents to heed the advisories issued by government agencies on the status of various areas in the city so as not to waste their hard earned resources in building their structures in danger zones or high-risk areas.
Declared danger zones in the city include areas with steep slopes which are prone to and slides and soil erosions, areas with sinkholes, among other geohazard locations where there fractured soil and rock formations that are also considered as risks.
By Dexter A. See