Nearly 100 developers may face raps for illegal actions
Nearly 100 developers of commercial and residential estates including small developers in Davao City could face stiff penalties and sanctions for building without first procuring the required permits. Illegally built structures are also in danger of being demolished.
City Planning and Development Office head Ivan Chin Cortez disclosed this on Wednesday after finding these developers have proceeded with the construction phase of their projects without securing local permits mandated by the city government as well as violating the building code and zoning ordinance.
“The challenge now is those developers that build first before securing permits and licenses as they might face penalties and sanctions for illegal actions from the city. Because we observed that there are a lot of developers who proceeded with the constructions without securing the permits first and violated the building code and the city zoning,” Cortez said in an interview.
Amidst the wave of violations, the CPDO chief said they are now in the process of filing charges against these developers wherein mostly local developers for failing to secure building permits and licenses.
Cortez, however, said that while the violators are aplenty involving mostly small developers, the so-called big players have faithfully complied.
“Yung big players kumukuha sila ng permit first. The big players always comply,” he said.
Cortez said these violators will be assessed and penalized based on the penal clause stipulated in the city’s zoning and the building code. He also said if these developers do not want to face charges, they need to demolish all structures under construction not covered by permits.
He also said giving warnings to these developers are not needed as they are already aware that there is a law that mandates them to secure permits and licenses first before proceeding to the construction.
Cortez said they are monitoring constructions in the city by deploying a team which will check construction areas. He said through GIS tagging they will be alerted that a certain construction firm has not applied for permits.
“Pag hindi nag-apply babalikan namin yan at bibigyan namin ng notice of violations. but if they continue with the construction that is the time we will file the case against the violator,” he said.
He said the city planning office does GIS tagging at least once a week and this includes the residential developments in the city.
Cortez, who is also handling the city’s zoning program, said there are a number of real estate condominium and residential estate developers coming in the city including the big players from Manila. He said there are around 40 to 60 projects ongoing in Davao City and are now in the process of securing permits and licenses.
He also said these developers must comply with the requirements such as the Preliminary Approval for Locational Clearance (PALC) from the City Council before they can apply for permit to pre-sell from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).
