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| Batac Mayor Albert D. Chua and MMSU President Dr. Shirley P. Agrupis sign the memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the Pasilaw and Planu Pro-Poor Program on February 3, 2o20. (Doms dela Cruz) |
By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff Reporter
City of Batac—With the goal of improving Bataqueños quality of life, the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) and the city government here formally signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the “Pasilaw and Planu Program” at the City Hall Session Hall on February 3, 2020.
MMSU President Dr. Shirley P. Agrupis and Batac Mayor Albert D. Chua personally signed the MOA.
The “Pasilaw and Plano Pro-Poor Program” aims to energize all residential houses and to help beneficiaries who cannot afford to hire the services of professional for the preparation of architectural, civil, structural and plumbing plans.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod here earlier passed this program with Batac councilor Bismark Angelo Quidang as main sponsor.
Dr. Agrupis said the pro-poor program is specifically a joint venture of MMSU’s civil and electrical engineering department with the city government of Batac.
Dr. Agrupis added that MMSU students will formulate the plans with the supervision and approval of their professors for the electrical wirings as required by local government units for the issuance of a building permit.
She added that this is one way to help the people of Batac so they will no longer pay professional fees for specialists.
The MMSU president also added that this will also benefit their students as this will become their “applied laboratory” in their respective fields; this will also prepare them for their eventual graduation.
Batac City building official Engr. Richard Pungtilan, for his part, confirmed that there are still an estimated 3,000 residential houses in this city without electricity.
He, however, disclosed that some the said residential houses have illegally connected their power.
He stressed that they have not applied for electrical connection due to the expensive fees which they cannot afford.
Mr. Pungtilan further stated that although they allow temporary power connection during construction, the city government requires permanent wired connection when they apply for an occupancy permit.
“Iti kinagpayso na adda dan dagiti natiliwan gapu ta masapul a suruten iti linteg,” Mr. Pungtilan explained.
Mr. Chua thanked MMSU and Dr. Agrupis for the joint venture that will help Batacqueños, especially the indigents or low-income earners as certified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The Batac mayor said the main program’s beneficiaries are those who cannot afford to hire services of electrical engineers for the electrical plan and materials needed for the installation wherein it needs the supervision of a registered master electrician (RME).
The city government of Batac, thru the building officer, needs to enforce overall administrative control and/or supervision of buildings/structures in the processing of building permit applications and certificates.
No person, firm or corporation can construct, alter, repair, and occupy any building/structure without first obtaining a building permit from the building official.