Senior Inspector Samuel Tadeo, chief of the Quezon City Fire Safety Enforcement Unit (FSEU), said a "notice of correct violation" was sent to Roberto Nazareno, secretary general of the House of Representatives building as early as Sept. 28, 2005.
"After more than six months, there are still no corrective measures being done, prompting the BFP to impose a fine of P6,000," Tadeo told The STAR.
The district BFP is set to conduct an inspection today to check on the correction of the violation.
A two-page report noted that the plenary hall, where sessions are held, has no sprinkler system. Several other defects and deficiencies were also noted at the main, south and north wings.
BFP officials advised House administrators to acquire fire extinguishers and install a sprinkler system at the hall to avoid possible tragedies.
"Exit signages were not lighted/illuminated, there were inadequate portable emergency lights installed, some units of portable fire extinguishers were found low in pressure and subject for reconditioning," said the report.
Tadeo also noted that the Batasan Complex has no automatic fire pump, no automatic fire suppression system and that the carpets, rugs and curtains have not been treated regularly with fire retardant chemicals.
At the food court, all concessionaires are required to install approved type of portable fire extinguishers. Those using liquefied petroleum gas are required to install automatic leak shut-off devices.
"There were no directional exit signages leading to designated fire exit stairs," noted Tadeo, who asked House administrators to undertake necessary corrective measures and cause compliance with fire safety requirements in accordance with the provisions of the rules and regulations of the Fire Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree 1185).
In the notice to correct violation, Tadeo said each violation has a specific time frame from 30 to 60 days to correct and comply with the fire code.
In a privilege speech late Wednesday, Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo "Ompong" Plaza said that while their main task is to make laws, it has been an irony over the years that the institution has "become the number one lawbreaker of the Building and Fire Code."
"If there was a state-of-the-nation-address, budget hearing, presidential visit or during joint sessions of Congress where a huge crowd in the session hall is present, the dreaded stampede in Ultra will be repeated," the lawmaker said.
Plaza told Deputy Speaker for Visayas Raul del Mar, who presided the session, that it is very alarming to learn that their "personal and collective safety" against fire is at risk.
"The House is supposed to be the model of a law-abiding institution, and yet it appears that we are the number one violator of these laws," he said, citing the Building Code, Fire Safety Code, the Clean Air Act and Waste Chemicals Act of 1990, among others.
Plaza enumerated the "glaring violations" that make the complex a fire hazard, which threatens the congressmen’s lives, their staff, the House properties, including the priceless museum records and expensive equipment.
Among them are the lack of directional exit signages, insufficient fire hoses, cheap and ineffective fire extinguishers, the retention of sprinkler system that emits toxic and ozone-depleting chemicals, inadequate fighting gear, the 1970 vintage firetruck, and the non-treatment of fire retardant chemical on carpets, rugs and curtains.
The built-in sprinkler system alone, according to Plaza, violates the Philippine Clean Air Act which they passed in 1999. The hazardous Halon chemical it would emit has been banned for many years now.