50 informal settlers sued by Davao City Hall

Photo credit from davaogastronomicadventures

THE City Building Office (CBO) on Monday sued around 50 informal settlers for occupying an area in Bajada without a permit.

Jaime Adalin, CBO chief, filed the complaint against the 50 informal settlers who put up illegal structures beside Blue Post Bar and Billiards along J.P Laurel Avenue in Bajada.

Adalin, along with another CBO official, filed a case of violation of Presidential Decree 1096, otherwise known as the National Building Code of the Philippines, before the City Prosecution Office (CPO) on June 11.

Under the law, Section 309 (Certificate of Occupancy) states that "No building or structure shall be used or occupied and no change in the existing use or occupancy classification of a building or structure or portion thereof shall be made until the Building Official has issued a Certificate of Occupancy therefor as provided in this Code."

"Any person, firm or corporation who shall violate any of the provisions of this Code and/or commit any act hereby declared to be unlawful shall upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than twenty thousand pesos or by imprisonment of not more than two years or by both such fine and imprisonment," Section 213 (Penal Provisions) states.

A certain Nancy Tan, owner of the land, also filed a separate complaint against the informal settlers.

The cases were filed under regular filing and are still subject to a preliminary investigation.

The names of the respondents are not available as of this posting Wednesday.

Adalin refused to elaborate on the case for legal reasons. However, he said they are preparing charges against 70 other persons for a similar complaint.

The informal settlers reportedly started to occupy the property just last month.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on June 14, 2012.

Link from sunstar