The Philippines has several governing building codes being followed in the construction industry in building houses and buildings, and 2 of the most significant ones relative to the recent disasters in Visayas are: (is it more of implementation? I am familiar in the condo construction, first hand in Manila, and the building officials are very exacting)
1. National Building Code of the Philippines (NBC)
2. National Structural Code of the Philippines (NSCP)
Frankly, being in the construction industry for a number of years now, these codes are sometimes not followed, especially for small houses and buildings. Some contractors and builders focus on saving money more than following the codes and the safety of the end users. Yes, they do submit plans to the City Hall for Building Permit prior to construction complying with these codes, but upon execution these would sometimes not be followed. For example, instead of putting 100 steel bars in a slab, they only put 80 steel bars since these steel bars will not be seen by the inspectors of the City Hall once concrete is poured.
Also, construction projects take for granted all the other trades in the industry, in what they call the MEPF or the Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing & Fire Protection. These are the other trades that are also very important in construction projects. All buildings are equipped with these MEPF systems when applicable, which is ok. What is not ok is the seismic protection of these systems during earthquake. These systems such as pipes and conduits for water, sewer, drainage, electrical, ventilation, sprinklers, and other relevant systems inside the building are all hanging inside the ceiling, and once the earthquake hits the building, most likely these systems will collapse. There are no provisions for earthquake restraints and protection. That's scary for the end users.
The 2 codes mentioned above and all the other codes in the Philippines are all based on the American standards and codes. Practically, we just copied their code. The scary thing is that our country has a very different situation from America. Their weather there is mostly cold, ours here is hot and humid. It snows there and we have thunderstorms here. The Philippines is right on top of an earthquake zone and America is not. If we are plainly copying and basing from their codes, that only means that our building codes are wrong.
The recent disasters in the Visayas region, more specifically the earthquake in Bohol and the super typhoon Yolanda in Samar and Leyte, are clear proofs of the above paragraphs. Our building codes are based from America's building codes, meaning all the houses in the Philippines are not built to be safe during earthquake and typhoons, since America does not have these incidents on this scale. All the houses in Samar and Leyte that were hit by the super typhoon are all down. Bridges collapsed during the earthquake in Bohol. Obviously, our buildings codes are either one of the 3:
1.) Our building codes are wrong,
2.) Our building codes are not strictly implemented, or
3.) Our building codes are wrong and not strictly implement
Yes, these recent disasters are something to mourn about. But mourning will not do us any good, although it is natural for us to mourn in these tough challenges. Mourning will not benefit us at all.
What's best to do is to rise up and learn from them. We have to update our building codes to prevent these types of disasters from happening again. We have to take into consideration the worst things that could happen. All the houses and buildings must be strong enough to withstand the super typhoons like Yolanda and the earthquake that happened in Bohol, or even stronger ones.
Updating our building codes is only the first half of the equation. Strict implementation and execution of these codes completes the equation.
Human beings survived all the test in time because they have powerful brains that allowed them to adapt to their surroundings and learn from their mistakes. 3
Paolo S. Bellosillo
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