SK gets share from bldg permit fees without doing their job
The Sangguniang Kabataan in the city receives their share from the building permit fees without doing their job as stipulated in the Regulation Ordinance No. 2001-159, an ordinance deputizing three SK members from each barangay in Iloilo City to monitor, inspect and report to building officials all illegal construction, repair, removal or alteration of buildings or structures in their respective area of jurisdiction.
In yesterday's hearing of the Sangguniang Panlungsod ad hoc committee chaired by Councilor Perla Zulueta, Councilor Stevie Rey Abitang admitted they were only informed of such ordinance late last year. They acted and implemented the same ordinance only October of 2005 or about four years after they normally get their shares from the building permit fees.
Records from the City Treasurer's Office showed that in 2001, the SK has a share of P232,663.71, P224,573.98 (2002), P321,817.48 (2003), P419,335.63 (2004) and P346,567.13 for 2005. The SK has a share of P118,573.03 from January to April of 2006. The SK receives 20 percent of the total collections made for building permit fees.
With the SK's complacency complying with the ordinance, City Engineer Marito Amatorio requested Mayor Jerry Treñas for the passage of an ordinance repealing the previous ordinance that mandates the 20 percent of the total fees collected be appropriated to the SK for the purpose of deputizing them as part of the enforcement arm of the CEO..
"There was never an occurrence of SK members reporting illegal construction activities. If given favorable consideration, the Office of the Building Official will acquire two additional vehicles and two motorcycles for the inspectorate (mechanical and electrical) and will form an additional enforcement team so that the whole city may be adequately monitored," said Amatorio.
In his letter to the chief executive, Amatorio said the recent budgetary allocation for the operation of the Office of the Building Official manifests the already stretched financial resources of the city. "Thus the inspectorate and enforcement section's efficiency is affected due to to the limited supply of fuel and maintenance of the already aged vehicle (multi-cab) currently at its disposal." The same vehicle covers the city's 180 barangays.
Amatorio lamented that the fees collected thru the operation of the CEO has significantly increased in the past years caused by the recent rise of several buildings and commercial establishments coupled with the construction boom of residential and apartment type of structures and yet the daily office supply requirements of the CEO is affected because of limited appropriation.