Manila City Hall padlocks 3 dorms

Three dormitories were closed down yesterday morning as part of the Manila City Hall’s crackdown on boarding houses with major deficiencies.

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza placed notices of closure on the front doors of the Noella Ladies Dormitory located on Lerma street.; Lady Carmel Bed Spacer on R. Papa street; and Ginory Holdings Corp. (Francisco Building) on Lerma street, all in Sampaloc, Manila.

Louie Manimtim, overall head of Manila City Hall’s committee on dormitories, said several local division unit chiefs accompanied Atienza.

There was no resistance from the owners when the notices were put in place as the mayor arrived with 20 members of the Bureau of Fire Protection, Manila Police District and Matapat security officers.

Among the defects cited were the dilapidated structures, lack of fire exits, insufficient number of comfort rooms, poor ventilation, open live wires, dangling electrical wires and lack of fire hoses.

"The Noella did, however, have a fire extinguisher. But we also noted that this dormitory allowed its occupants to cook inside the building and that is prohibited under the Building Code of the Philippines. A dormitory is only a place for sleeping and studying, if they want food they should buy take-out food," Manimtim said.

He described the owner of the Francisco Building as a lessor of real estate property, owning a number of apartments, dormitories, and rooms-for-rent. The building was damaged in a fire two years ago, but up to now there has been no improvements made.

The materials they salvaged from the fire was used to patch up defects in the building. "Pinag tapal-tapal lang nila, madilim at masikip pa ang lugar. It’s a low-end type of a dorm, where a number of cats and rats also reside," the committee chief added.

Manimtim earlier said that, in a span of just five months, they have inspected the more than 230 registered dormitories in Manila. More than 100 of these establishments were found to have minor and major defects.

Majority of the dormitories are clustered in three areas in the city, namely those that line up Nicanor Reyes street (formerly Recto); San Marcelino and Taft Avenue; and inside the walled city of Intramuros.