CEBU CITY, Philippines — The application for a building permit in Cebu City can already be done online starting October 1, 2020.
Architect Florante Catalan, the head of the Office of the Building Official (OBO), revealed in a press conference on Tuesday, September 29, 2020, that the application for building permit has been placed online to reduce physical contact at their office.
This is still in line with precautionary measures against the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) here.
Catalan said that the applicants will be given a link online, where they can upload their requirements for the building permit.
The process will only take three days if the applicant has complied with the permits ahead of time and these are submitted at the same time.
The list of requirements can be found at cebucity.gov.ph/building-application-forms/ while they can be submitted at mics.cebucity.gov.ph using the PDF format.
Catalan said that the online method of application has long been planned even before the pandemic and its early version the OBO IS 2 was launched in 2019, allowing a three-day processing of the building permit, a first in the country.
The IS 2 process will allow the applications to be digitally approved by the different sections of the office all at once through a digital database of requirements, making the process faster.
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However, the older process was not fully digital and still involved applicants going to the OBO office for the submission of the hard copies.
This time, the OBO IS 3 allows a full application online with digital submission for faster approval/rejection. An appointment will be set for the submission of the hard copies.
“Of course, we understand some people are not comfortable with a fully online application so we will still entertain inquiries at the OBO, but we encourage the applicants to go online,” said the Catalan.
The OBO hopes for this new process to be the new normal way of application as it would be faster for the applicants and faster for OBO as well.
This would also reduce possibilities of corruption as the applicant will no longer have to face anyone for the submission of the requirements.
/bmjo