Solon says National Building Code must be repealed; here's why

Saying that the Philippines has long been using an "obsolete law", Bulacan 6th district Rep. Salvador Pleyto Sr. has called for the repeal of the National Building Code.

Pleyto's call is embodied in House Bill (HB) 1180, titled the “New Philippine Building Act". The measure aims to repeal Presidential Decree (PD 1096).

PDs are laws that date back to the time of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., father of current President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

“This law (PD 1096) has to be repealed. We have been using this obsolete law...We have to make our buildings withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake,” said Pleyto, who at 80 years old is among the oldest neophyte solons in the 19th Congress.

Pleyto, a civil engineer, said buildings should be “resilient against earthquakes, fire, flood, landslide, storm, volcano and multiple hazards"--something that he wants to achieve by replacing the 45-year-old law with the proposed New Philippine Building Act.

The Bulacan lawmaker made the call just days removed from the powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake that shook Luzon.

Pleyto is a former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary.