Dads want contractors to get liability insurance

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council yesterday urged the Office of the Building Officials to strictly implement the provision of an existing city ordinance that requires building contractors to first secure public liability insurance before they will be granted a permit to ensure that victims of possible accidents in their projects can be fully compensated.

Councilor Arsenio Pacaña successfully convinced his fellow city legislators to support his move citing the incident in Barangay Tisa last week where five construction workers died after a portion of an ongoing building construction for a commercial establishment collapsed.

Although the building contractor had shouldered its civil obligation to the victims, Pacaña said requiring the contractors to secure for public liability insurance would ensure that contractors cannot escape liability in case an accident would occur in their construction sites.

Pacaña said the OBO personnel should be reminded of the existing provisions as provided for under City Ordinance 1746 as amended by City Ordinance 1787, otherwise known as “An ordinance requiring contractors or developers applying for a building permit to first secure a public liability insurance and providing penalties thereof.”

The south district councilor said he was sad upon hearing that one of the construction workers who died in the tragedy was reportedly working overtime because his pregnant wife was due to deliver their first child this month.

City legal officer Joseph Bernaldez earlier said there are enough grounds to prove that the contractor of the building that collapsed last week is liable for violating the provisions of the national building code when it deviated from the approved building plans, particularly the height of the firewall.

The building officials believed that the deviations could be one of the possible reasons that the firewall of the building collapsed and killed five people and injured six others last week.

The city had already suspended the construction of the two-story building pending the results of the investigation.  (FREEMAN NEWS)