OBO suspends construction of building

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Office of the Building Official has adopted the recommendations of the Department of Labor and Employment to suspend works at a building where a worker died after falling from the 11th floor.

City Engineer Jose Marie Poblete said that OBO has adopted DOLE’s recommendation since his office cannot impose sanctions on the owner of the building.

“Ang accident is between company and worker ra man gyod siya. So, ang DOLE ang nag-supervise ana. Dili man siya about sa structural stability,” he said.

“Kon ang construction sa building ang naka-cause sa collapse, definitely mosulod ang OBO,” he added.

Last Tuesday, Jovito Alvarado, 42, was declared dead on arrival at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center while his cousin, Crisanto Cupta, 21, was in critical condition after the incident.

Poblete received the incident report from OBO area inspectors Christopher Miranda, Meyrick Ricardo Balaga, and Annabelle Almario-Bacalso.

The report states that the incident happened at the ongoing construction of the 17-storey commercial building. Its building permit was issued on September 12, 2013.

 “One of the gondola was detached on its welded part somewhere at the 12/F which caused the fall of the two Sonyu painters to the ground,” the incident report said.

Poblete said that DOLE has the jurisdiction to recommend the suspension of construction work since the accident was a worker-company related issue.

“As informed, these workers wear full-body harness but were not able to anchor their harness to an independent lifeline,” the incident report read.

Poblete said that OBO can also issue a suspension of construction work if there are requests.He also added that DOLE has the power to lift the suspension order, since they are the ones who issued it. (FREEMAN)