Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has ordered a structural integrity audit on all buildings within the locality.
He signed City Ordinance 2724, mandating the Engineering Department, Department of Building Official and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office to inspect all buildings, private or government-owned, and especially structures that are 30 years and older and those lying along a fault line or danger zones.
“The Quezon City government mandates the promotion and development of an earthquake risk reduction and management program in order to mitigate if not to eliminate the effects of major natural and man-made disasters as well as to protect the health, safety and general welfare of the Quezon City residents,” the ordinance read.
Bautista tasked Joselito Cabungcal, Engineering Department chief, to conduct the structural integrity audit of buildings owned by the local and national government agencies, and Isagani Verzosa, Department of Building Official chief to look on privately owned buildings’ structural integrity.
Karl Michael Marasigan, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office chief, shall be responsible for identifying whether the site is located along the West Valley Fault and any danger zones.
“The city government desires to strengthen the city’s resiliency against human-induced or natural disaster by recognizing the vision, policy framework and strategies capitalized on disaster risk reduction and management in Quezon City,” the measure cited.
Meanwhile, Bautista approved City Ordinance 2721, requiring the installation of motion sensor alarms in pawnshops pursuant to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Circular 91 of 1995.
The safety measure is in addition to the existing alarm system in the vaults of all pawnshops in Quezon City, a mandatory requirement.
City Ordinance 2721 was passed after the rise in cases of break-in robberies where the vaults of banks and even pawnshops were penetrated by digging a hole underground to gain access to the vaults.
