No building permit for annex construction

CEBU City Hall granted permits for the construction of a 30-story building along J. Llorente St. but has no record of a permit for an annex building of GT Times Square.

Records at the Office of the Building Official (OBO) show that no permit was granted for the construction of the annex building of GT Time Square which has narrowed down a portion of J. Llorente St. beside Chong Hua Hospital in barangay Capitol Site.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama inspected the project site yesterday and pointed out how the building has narrowed the road’s width.

“Tan-awa gud na oh. Nisiwil gyud ang building (Look at that. The building juts out),” the mayor said as he traced the edge of the road from the end of the street leading to the building.

According to Bernabe Pateno, who heads the OBO’s line and grade section, they had to order the stoppage of the construction of the annex building sometime in 2011 since no permit has been granted for it.

He said in 2010, the company applied for a building permit for a 24-story structure which was granted by OBO.

In 2011, they applied for another permit for an additional six-floors as well as for a nine-story annex building located at a portion that would further narrow down the road.

“We approved the application for the additional floors. But we had to disapprove the application for the annex building because their documents weren’t complete at that time,” Pateno told reporters yesterday.

He said the property owners were only able to present a city council resolution which states that a portion of the road lot of J. Llorente near their building has been classified as an ordinary lot. But Pateno said they need more authentic documents to show proof of ownership like a title from the Registry of Deeds or from the Bureau of Lands of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

After they approved the permit for the additional floors, Pateno said the building owners were able to secure the needed documents for them to begin  construction of  the annex building.

“But they thought it was automatic that the construction of the annex building is approved. That can’t be because they need a separate application. We want them to apply for another separate permit for the annex building,” Pateno explained.

The owners already started building three floors of the annex building when the OBO sent them a notice to stop the construction.

The OBO suggested that the owners apply for another building permit for the annex building and they will have to verify if they will be granted the permit.

According to City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete, the original road width of the street beside the building was around 20 meters. Since the building owners were able to secure a title for a seven-meter extension into the road, it’s now reduced to around 14 meters wide.

Mayor Rama, Poblete, Pateno and assistant OBO head Florante Catalan are facing a civil case for mandamus with damages and attorney’s fees before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) regarding the issue. The petitioners are represented by businessman Benjamin Gothong.