While local tourist site Igorot Stone Kingdom has been open to business, city officials have revealed on Tuesday that the site is still lacking crucial paperwork to operate.
The site, first opened to the public in 2021, faced a spate of violations from city inspections, eventually leading to the site’s temporary closure in 2022 as city officials filed legal actions against the site and its owners, Pio and Hajji Velasco.
City Buildings and Architecture Officer Architect Johny Degay, in a 2022 affidavit, said that the owners of the Stone Kingdom continued with construction activities despite cease and desist orders from the City Buildings and Architecture Office (CBAO).
Multiple ocular inspections and investigations have been conducted by the CBAO in June of said year, flagging violations of Section 301 in relation to Section 213 of Presidential Decree (PD) 1096., but construction work continued even with said flagging from the CBAO.
Said 4 counts of legal action were eventually dismissed by local courts, and in 2023, the site was allowed to reopen, with promises from the Velascos that all laws will be complied with and all paperwork will be acquired.
Velasco said he was required to undertake comprehensive soil and geological testing, a new zoning classification, and obtain an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the Environmental Management Bureau.
However, Assistant City Building Officer Stephen Capuyan said that the Velascos were issued 2 more notices of violation for yet again building structures at the site without appropriate paperwork.
Owner Velasco said that the sanitation facilities flagged with violations were lacking in paperwork due to their inability to provide a land title as part of the CBAO’s requirements, as only a portion of the 6,000 square meter lot is currently titled, with the rest pending approval of land patents with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and currently covered by tax declarations.
