PNoy orders probe on faulty buildings in Cebu following deadly quake

President Benigno Aquino III has ordered an investigation on several structures in Cebu that may be in violation of the National Building Code, following Tuesday's deadly earthquake that devastated parts of Central Visayas.

Interviewed in South Korea where he is on a two-day official visit, Aquino said on Friday that he told Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III and Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes to ask their municipal engineer about his observations on the Mandaue Republic Market and the Cebu capitol.

“I’m not an engineer nor an architect pero it didn’t look to me like a very good construction. Ayaw ko lang munang mag-(comment) kasi I’m having it investigated," he said.

"Kapag merong mga nagkulang, medyo nagsabing 'puwede na' ay ipapadama naming hindi tama ‘yung 'puwede na',” the President added.

Aquino, who visited quake-hit provinces Cebu and Bohol before he flew to South Korea, said he noticed that the reinforcing bars used in the two buildings did not look sturdy enough.

"Hindi naman ako muscle-builder pero parang feeling ko... mga tatlong beses kong iyupi-yupi, puwede nang maputol," Aquino said. He added that the cement walls were not that smooth.

On Tuesday, a magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook parts of the Visayas, with Cebu and Bohol the hardest hit. As of Friday morning, 171 deaths have been recorded, with 375 injured and 20 missing. The quake also caused damage to several historical churches and buildings.   

The search for the missing people was focused on the coastal town of Loon and neighboring Antequera, both in Bohol, which were close to the earthquake's epicenter, the province's police chief Senior Superintendent Dennis Agustin told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Search and rescue teams had reached those areas by boat and narrow dirt roads over the past 24 hours, he added.

Aquino said the government is already making efforts to improve the country's resiliency against strong earthquakes.

He said the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Science and Technology, and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology have been conducting training, seminars, and inspections of structures.

Since earthquakes cannot be predicted, Aquino said one of the things that can be done is to retrofit buildings to enable them to withstand strong earthquakes.

Open-air surgery in Bohol

In the hard-hit town of Loon, surgeons were planning to save lives on open-air operating tables in a hospital carpark Thursday as rescuers struggled to help isolated survivors. Patients waited to be operated on in the parking lot of a provincial hospital, their beds sheltered under makeshift tents because the main building was already filled with injured survivors.