Amend the National Building Code ASAP!

Today is Valentine’s Day and the day for Lovers from all walks of life. For the restaurant industry… this day is considered the most profitable day of all the days of the year. Of course motel owners and small hotels too are going to enjoy brisk business today… thanks to our Lovers who cannot control their sexual urges or those who mistake sex as Love.

I just hope that as Lovers enjoy their special dinners, they would do so first of all by putting away their cellphones and focus on the person across the table. I have seen too many couples having dinner, but their focus is on their cellphones texting their friends and not on each other. Let’s hope that today, they would make an exception and show their love to their partners or wives by talking to them rather than using their cellphones during dinner. Again allow me to greet our readers a Happy Valentine’s Day!

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That massive 6.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Surigao City last Friday evening has severely affected many Surigaonons, who hopefully today would get their water lines restored by the Surigao Water District. Watching the helicopter aerial footages from the ANC reports, damage seem to be extensive, including major bridges on national roads that are vital to those who bring in relief goods to the earthquake stricken areas. I understand that the Surigao Domestic Airport has been damaged and shut down, hence all flights to Surigao has been diverted to Butuan City two hours away.

As always, the government has been ill-prepared to handle this natural disaster. Indeed we have always been reactionary when it comes to natural disasters…, which means, we Filipinos do not learn our lessons well. This is why I fully concur with the observations of my good friend, Architect and Urban planner Felino “Jun” Palafox who renewed his call for a structural audit of buildings all over the country in the wake of the strong earthquake that hit Surigao City.

Archt. Palafox noted during an interview over ANC, “It’s 90 percent cheaper to address the hazards before the disasters through urban planning, architecture, engineering and other sciences.” Archt. Palafox also pointed out that either the structures in Surigao were constructed based on outdated building codes or the minimum standards of the building codes were not followed. He added that the recent quake is a “wake up call” for the Philippines since the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has already identified areas vulnerable to earthquakes.

Indeed, the law governing our buildings is called the National Building Code (NBC) and it is as antiquated as our system of governance. If the Duterte administration is pushing for political change in our system of governance from the present unitary form of government and into a Federal system of government, it should also prioritize and revisit the National Building Code (NBC), which is vital to our economic growth and development.

Aside from structural issues, where decades ago, the tallest building in Cebu City was the 12-storey Luym Building, we ought to seriously look at the minimum standards for structural integrity of our buildings. Another very important revision that needs to be changed is the width of our sidewalks under the old NBC which was enacted when the Philippine population was less than 20 million people. Today we are over a hundred million people and our minimum requirement for our sidewalks remain the same.

This is why I urge the Duterte administration to prioritize a bill to revisit the National Building Code (NBC) and bring it up to speed to the 21st Century. During one of my TV interviews with Archt. Palafox, he noted that our economic growth has overtaken the laws governing our building structures, which is a dangerous thing. So I hope House Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez would seriously consider prioritizing the amendment of the National Building Code and make our buildings safe from earthquakes.

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In response to our article last week supporting the Duterte administration’s call for the re-imposition of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) as mandatory for two years in college, both from public and private schools, I got this message from the Duterte Youth a pro-government group.

“Now that we have a Philippine President who is a Southeast Asian Strongman like Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, we also need to have a program like Singapore’s mandatory military youth training because that method helped them produce millions of citizens who are disciplined, patriotic, and productive members of their society. With our more than 100 million population now, it is the duty of the State to train millions of our youth in defending the country against invaders or insurgents, in earthquake and typhoon rescue operations, and in leading our communities in patriotic and nation-building activities.”

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