OBO assures less than an hour processing of permits

CEBU, Philippines — The Office of the Building Official (OBO) in Cebu City has assured that processing and issuance of building permits can now be finished in less than an hour following instruction of Mayor Michael Rama.

“We are happy to announce to the public, sa mga architects and engineers, nga ang OBO Cebu City nag-implement na gyud ta og less than an hour issuance of building permits,” said OBO head Florante Catalan, in a report by the city’s Public Information Office (PIO).

The applicants should prepare the complete documents in accordance with the minimum standards under the National Building Code, its Implementing Rules and Regulations, and the city’s applicable ordinances.

They must put their required building plans as well as documents in a flash drive and present it to the OBO for processing.

After that, it will not reach an hour waiting for the issuance of their actual building permits.

Such policy is made possible through the OBO Information System (IS) Version 3, which was developed by the city’s Management Information and Computer Services (MICS) office.

Catalan said that once the files are encoded to their system, it will be disseminated automatically to all section heads.

“Simultaneous sila maka-receive, so simultaneous sad sila maka-process,” he said.

This means that the heads of the OBO’s architectural, structural, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, ECE, and line and grid sections can review and process the documents simultaneously.

Way back, they had to wait for one section to finish before having their review one at a time, which caused the previous backlogs and delays in the issuance of building permits and  could take months before being released.

Now, after the section heads finish checking the application, the document will be reviewed by the processing section and Catalan himself.

If everything is in order, they will sign the building permit and issue it to the applicant within the hour.

Catalan said the less than an hour issuance of building permits in OBO will not only fast track applications but will give utmost customer satisfaction. —  GMR (FREEMAN)