By Calvin Cordova
CEBU CITY – The Office of the Building Official (OBO) here has suspended the projects undertaken by the J.E. Abraham C. Lee Construction and Development Inc. following the collapse of the construction firm’s bunkhouse that killed five laborers and injured 57 others early morning last Monday in Barangay Lahug.
The suspension came after the OBO discovered that the bunkhouse was an illegal structure and inhabitable.
Engr. Yosefa Ylanan in a press briefing last Monday said building a bunkhouse needs a permit as a temporary structure and added that an engineer from OBO sent to inspect the site discovered that the bunkhouse was inhabitable.
“A bunkhouse should have amenities. It should have a comfort room and a kitchen but we didn’t find one. It had no strong foundation because it was made of scaffolds. Hence, the structure was built for purposes other than being habituated. It was an illegal structure,” said Ylanan.
The bunkhouse collapsed shortly before 3 a.m. last Wednesday that killed Iveen Villarin, 23, of Langtad, City of Naga; Jason Bacalso, 22, Langtad, City of Naga; Francisco Diapera, 45, of Pag-asa, Lutopan, Toledo City, all from Cebu province; Carlos Caliwa, 61, Manjuyod, Negros Oriental; and Crisenciano Silomen, 57, Kauswagan, Trinidad, Bohol.