BAGUIO CITY – The City Government will impose stiffer penalties against contractors who continue to willfully violate the provisions of an ordinance prohibiting the use of job mix and temporary cement batching plants along all national, local and barangay roads in the city.
Section 3 of Ordinance No. 41, series of 2015 that amended Section 3 of Ordinance No. 02, series of 2012 which prohibits the conduct of job mix along major local and barangay roads in the city provides that any person, natural or juridical, found violating the local legislative measure shall be fined P5,000 and immediate revocation of license to operate in case of companies or establishments doing construction works. For individuals, they shall also be penalized with the maximum imprisonment of 30 days at the discretion of the court.
Originally, Section 3 of Ordinance No. 02, series of 2012 provides that any person found violating the ordinance shall pay a fine of P1,000 for the first offense; P3,000 for the second offense and P5,000 for the third offense or revocation of license to operate in case of companies or establishments doing construction activities in the city.
The local legislative body noted numerous reports of gross violations of Ordinance No. 02, series of 2012 by individuals acting on behalf of construction companies or establishments doing civil construction works along the roads of the city that have greatly contributed to the traffic congestions because erring contractors have used major portions of the roads for their job mix activities.
Further, the local legislators claimed the conduct of job mix in project sites also contribute to the poor air quality in the different parts of the city because of the unregulated dust particles that emanate from the mixture of construction aggregates being manually done.
The passage of the amendatory ordinance was seen by the members of the local legislative body as the ultimate solution to compel contractors to shift to acceptable construction practices that ensure quality work instead of allegedly compromising the quality of their works by using improper job mix and stiffer penalties should be imposed against erring contractors to end such illegal practice.
Aside from being penalized under the ordinance, erring contractors will also be penalized by members of the city’s Anti-Road Obstruction Task Force once they are caught using portions of roads to conduct their illegal job mix activities.
Some contractors believe the job mixing at project sites is prone to cheating because the standard misture composition of the prescribed design mix can easily be reduced./By Dexter A. See