DILG: Mayors liable for issuing permits to businesses without fire safety clearance

Mayors who issue permits to business establishments without fire safety inspection certificates may be held liable under the law, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said after discussing fire safety mechanisms with Metro Manila mayors on Tuesday.

One of the mayors who were present was Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian, who admitted that the city issued provisional permits to Kentex Manufacturing Corp. despite the absence of an FSIC from the Bureau of Fire Protection.

"Ang tinatanong ni Mayor Gatchalian, issue ng liabilities. Ang sinagot ko, hindi ito panahon para ipag-diskusyon mga liabilities. Di kami abogado. Ang DOJ (Department of Justice) at prosekusyon ang magpapasya," Roxas said.

"Liability ng mayor kung (nabigyan ng) mayor's permit na walang FSIC.... Ayon sa batas, ang FSIC ay requirement sa mayor's permit," he added.

Roxas' statement comes a day after President Benigno Aquino III vowed to go after individuals responsible for the incident, including local government officials.

Roxas met with Metro Manila city mayors to discuss the fire safety of establishments, especially industrial and manufacturing firms, within their jurisdictions.

Gatchalian on Monday said that LGUs were allowed under the law to issue provisional business permits. He, however, added that it was still the responsibility of the BFP to make sure the establishments followed fire safety codes.

"Because of Anti-Red Tape Act, the LGU can streamline the releases of these permits. It allows LGUs to issue a provisional business permit. It gives BFP responsibility to inspect the building after these provisional business permit and they have to go back to LGU," he added.

Gatchalian said that as of February 2015, Valenzuela has 15,775 establishments but BFP only inspected 3,527 of these and only 16 percent were issued certificates.

"Imagine sa Valenzuela may 15,000 na negosyo, 2,667 lang ang nabigyan ng fire safety certificates, what we will do? Will we just wait for this FSC to be released? What will happen to our economy? What will happen to the businesses? What will happen to the local economy and the local employees?" the mayor said.

The Valenzuela mayor is allied with opposition party United Nationalist Alliance, whose presumed standard bearer is Vice President Jejomar Binay, the likely opponent of Roxas in the 2016 presidential elections.



Roxas on Tuesday met with mayors of Metro Manila to tackle the safety of workers in high-risk industrial establishments.

In a report from GMA's “24 Oras” on Tuesday, Roxas said that the primary focus of the meeting was to make sure that fires like the one that hit the Kentex factory would be prevented.

“Ang purpose dito ay hindi para manuro, hindi para mag sisihan, hindi para kalampagin 'yung skeleton or ano man. Ang purpose natin dito ay mailayo sa kapahamakan ang ating mga kababayan,” he said. —Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez and Andrei Medina/NB, GMA News