Mayoralty candidate backs moratorium on the construction of high-rise buildings in Baguio City

May 6, 2019 Community Billboard

BAGUIO CITY – A mayoralty candidate vowed to be proactive, should a calamity of similar nature recurs in this city following the recent series of earthquakes that caused massive damage in Zambales, Pampanga and San Julian, Eastern Samar on April 23 and 24, 2019, respectively.
Mayoralty candidate Antonio “Tony Boy” Tabora, an engineer said, “We must strictly observe a moratorium on the height of buildings in the city,” recalling the July 16, 1990 earthquake that devastated Baguio City.
During a public debate hosted by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) recently, Tabora said, “Definitely, I am for a moratorium for the construction of high rise buildings in Baguio City.”
“During our time after the killer earthquake jolted Baguio, we immediately passed an ordinance limiting the height of buildings in the city,” he added.
The Baguio Zoning Ordinance limits the height of commercial buildings at 19.5 meters or six (6) storeys, while the National Building Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 1096) sets a 5-storey ceiling.
It can be recalled that the city government imposed a 4-storey building height limit to all structures that were built right after the July 16, 1990 killer earthquake before it was amended to a 6- storey building height limit.
In his message, Tabora also questioned why there are now buildings having 10 and 12 floors despite the existing ordinance on structural limitations of buildings being implemented by the city.
“The city government allows these building owners to obtain exemption from the local ordinance in Manila,” Tabora said.
Tabora calls for the amendment of the National Building Code for the Joint Building and Environmental Planning Research and Standards Commission to respect the local ordinances of provinces, cities and municipalities relative to building structural limitations located in Geo-hazard and earthquake prone areas.
“There is a need to respect our city’s ordinances with no exemptions,” he stressed.
 
(TBT Release)/ABN