Getting a building permit in Cebu City is now as easy as ‘one, two, three’ days – OBO chief

No more backlogs for Cebu City OBO on building and occupancy permits

The Cebu City Office of Building Official urges applicants of building permits to submit digital copies of their documents for faster processing of their applications through their upgraded OBO Information system. /Photo from Cebu City PIO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The processing of building and occupancy permits will now be faster in Cebu City as the Office of the Building Official (OBO) announced that they have processed all pending permits left from the previous administration up to the first three months of the new mayor’s term.

Architect Florante Catalan, the head of OBO, told CDN Digital in a phone interview that OBO processed a total of 1,020 permits in September 2019 alone.

Although he did not reveal the number of permits they processed from July to August 2019, he said the 1,020 permits for September were the last of the bulk of permits left from the previous administration as well as new applicants.

Only 24 requests have not been processed by OBO, but these included 11 complaints, one excavation permit, one scaffolding permit, and two sidewalk enclosure permit, which were all recently filed.

Building and occupancy permits are now up to date, Catalan said.

Catalan said that OBO, after a “very” long time, finally caught up with the permit processing and is now ready for more applicants for the building permit and occupancy permit.

He attributed the faster processing with the use of OBO Information System (IS) version 2,  a digital system of approving the permits, that allows section heads to simultaneously check on the building permit applications immediately after submission.

Read more: Cebu City OBO vows faster processing of building permits

With the system, what used to take months to process can now be done in three days at most, allowing multiple processing at once.

“Tungod ani nga system mawala na ang corruption kay maprocessed naman dayon. (Because of the system, corruption is eliminated as the permits are immediately processed),” said Catalan.

Catalan hoped that more investors and developers will start building their businesses in Cebu City now that getting a permit can be as easy as “one, two, three” days.

He also ensured the public that the new system is sustainable and can continue to serve with no backlogs in the future./elb