Manila gov’t inspecting dorms

With just a week to go before the opening of classes, Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said they are now fast tracking their effort to inspect the more than 200 dormitories in the city.

Atienza said the composite inspection team is still monitoring regular boarding houses and looking for "colorums," or those residential houses that, without securing the necessary permits, operate as a dormitory.

Most students who reside outside Metro Manila live in boarding houses while attending classes at the University Belt schools. Classes for schoolyear 2006-2007 will begin on June 5.

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

The inspection teams include representatives from the private sector, Manila Fire Department, City Health Division, Business Permit Office and barangay officials.

Atienza said dorm owners are being given a chance to improve their facilities. "If they fail to improve their facilities, they would not be allowed to operate."

This was not the first time that the city government conducted a full inspection of boarding houses.

Last Jan. 8, a fire broke out at a rented house which had been converted into a dormitory in Sampaloc, Manila. Eight tenants were killed in the blaze. – Evelyn Macairan