DAGUPAN CITY -- An ordinance is now being crafted by the Dagupan City council seeking to declare neglected and abandoned real properties as nuisance and hazardous and to impose penalties on their owners.
The draft ordinance was endorsed by Mayor Belen Fernandez who considers this as a boon to Dagupan considering the many abandoned and neglected real properties in the city that had become eyesores.
If approved, she said the ordinance will compel owners of these real properties to do something before their properties can be considered fire hazards if not health hazards.
The draft ordinance also seeks the creation of the Dagupan City Properties, Protection and Security Board (DCPPSB) to be headed by the city mayor as chairman and the city administrator as vice-chairman.
Proposed members of the DCPPSB are the heads of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Dagupan City Police Station, Public Order and Safety Office, City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, One-Stop Business Center, Philippine Medical Society and the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers.
Under the draft ordinance, neglected or abandoned real properties can be declared eyesores due to their lack of maintenance and cleanliness and can become havens for illicit activities due to lack of security and illumination.
Such real properties can be potentially hazardous to the community because they can become breeding areas for disease-carrying vectors. Also, uncontrolled growth of tall grasses or the accumulation of trash in the said properties are considered fire hazards and therefore potentially dangerous to the community.
The city council said that in the past, the city had recorded many grass fires as a result of these abandoned or neglected real properties.
After a property is classified as potentially hazardous, real property owners will be notified within five days with a warning that failure on the part of the owner to comply within 20 days from receipt of the notice, shall constrain the city government to enter the property and curb, eliminate or demolish the hazardous elements.
At the same time, the expenses incurred by the city in doing this shall be charged against the owner of the abandoned or neglected real property.
Violators shall suffer an imprisonment of six months and shall be penalized with a fine of P5,000. They may choose to voluntarily pay the administrative fine of P3,000 within seven days and the cost of clearing and cleaning of the property shall be paid separately from the penalties or fines. (PNA)
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