The completion of the multi-purpose building or commonly known as "Garinasium" funded by Iloilo Vice Gov. Richard Garin and wife First District Rep. Janette Garin inside the Miag-ao Central Elementary School is still on hold.

This, after the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) stopped its construction due to the absence of a building permit.

The vice governor said they are waiting for the decision of the DPWH after his wife has informed DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson about the 'cease and desist' order issued by the Municipal Engineer's Office of Miag-ao.

"The building is 15 to 20 percent complete. The DPWH-6 has a pending contract with us so we are just waiting for their move," he said.

Garin said all the papers including the documents pertaining to the National Building Code were fully complied with but the local government unit of Miag-ao refused to give them the building permit for reason that the lot is owned by a private individual and they don't have the written consent from the owner.

The vice governor said they learned from a tax declaration that the lot is owned by the Municipality of Miag-ao.

"Both the district and municipal engineer's offices should settle their conflict to give way to the completion of the project," he said.

For her part, Rep. Garin said the project was taken from her Congressional Development Fund (CDF). She said the Miag-ao multi-purpose building is one of the 38 similar projects contracted by the DPWH in all seven municipalities of the First District.

She said there is a standing agreement between all parties concerned that all projects were to be implemented within public elementary and secondary school premises, in order to maximize the use and allocation of government resources.

Under the additional Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the National Building Code of the Philippines (PD 1096), to ensure compliance of Section 209 of PD 1096 and its IRR, all public school buildings shall be exempt from payment of permit fees.

"Notwithstanding that pertinent documents have been already submitted to that office, no building permit has been correspondingly issued as of even date. Accordingly, the Municipal Mayor is insisting on transferring the project to a certain barangay prior to issuance of the building permit," Garin stated in her letter to Singson.

On the other hand, Miag-ao Mayor Julieta Flores denied that she insisted on the transfer of the project to another site.

She said she wants to put the project in a proper location and not on the site where the proposed project is being constructed.*