The Office of the Building Official (OBO) recommended a series of tests, including a hydrostatic test, to be done on Ayala Center Cebu’s Cinema 5.
Ayala Center Cebu was given seven days to submit a full report on the condition of the building.
OBO head Jose Marie Poblete said that periodic inspection of buildings should be done once or twice a year and immediately after certain calamities.
Poblete said establishments should hire independent firms to do maintenance audit for them to get accurate findings.
“They will tell you in your face the defects and if you will not do anything about it, things will escalate,” he said.
Poblete said that having an internal maintenance audit may result in hiding some defects and as a result, it cannot be addressed.
Ayala Center Cebu already submitted an incident report to OBO last Wednesday.
However, Poblete also required them to submit an investigation report indicating what caused the ceiling boards of the mall’s newest cinema to collapse.
OBO assistant head Florante Catalan said that OBO cannot give any assessment since the cause of the incident is not yet identified.
Lawyer Jeannette Japzon, corporate communications manager of Cebu Holdings Inc., said that the series of tests is ongoing.
The full investigation report will be given to OBO consultant Ariel dela Cruz to further check on what really happened./UP CEBU INTERN MARY CLAIRE U. CATADO