CoA wants city offices out of Elizalde and Co. building
Elizalde and Co. Building
Eleven offices under the city government will have to vacate the century old Elizalde and Co. building along J.M. Basa Street which they are presently occupying as the Commission on Audit (CoA) will renovate the building.
Mayor Jerry Treñas said CoA, which has the right of the building, has notified the city government of its intention to rehabilitate the edifice. Under an existing agreement the city government is allowed free use of the building only until July 5, 2008.
"The commission has no intention to extend the agreement for additional years," said Mayor Jerry Treñas.
Treñas said CoA is planning to renovate the old building for future use of their visitors from different parts of the region. The current offices occupied by the city government will be converted into transient rooms specifically for CoA's visiting auditors, said Treñas.
The offices now housed at the Elizalde and Co. building are the Local Civil Registrar, City Planning and Development Office, City Health Office, General Services Office, Population, City Local Government Office, Human Resource Management, City Tourism, Barangay Secretariat, PESO and city COA.
The chief executive said he asked for the reconsideration of the CoA to allow them to use the building until December pending the proper accounting of the documents and government properties to the concerned offices. There are lot of documents to be compiled before the transfer takes place, he said.
The affected offices would be transferred to other city-owned buildings as they could not be accommodated at the Robinsons Place.
In the initial plan, the City Tourism Office will occupy the VIP room under the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand while the planning and development office and Local Civil Registrar will transfer at the newly renovated City Agriculture building.
The GSO will transfer at the vacated ENRO building in Molo. Other offices may find space at the terminal building. The city government is also planning to take back the property presently occupied by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) regional office in Molo in order to house some of the dislocated city offices. BFAR is currently constructing a new building at Muelle Loney, said Treñas.