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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Villafuerte echoes call for National Building Code overhaul

Villafuerte echoes call for National Building Code overhaul

Published Apr 2, 2025 12:45 pm

At A Glance

  • Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte has joined the calls for the immediate overhaul of the nearly 50-year-old National Building Code in light of the destructive earthquake that recently struck Myanmar and Thailand. 

LRayFoto4.jpgCamarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (Rep. Villafuerte's office)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte has joined the calls for the immediate overhaul of the nearly 50-year-old National Building Code in light of the destructive earthquake that recently struck Myanmar and Thailand.

“As we express our sympathy and support for tremor-devastated Myanmar and Thailand, I am hoping that last week’s magnitude 7 tremblor...would serve as a strong impetus for our senators to pass their counterpart to the House-approved climate-proofing overhaul of the Philippine Building Act,” said Villafuerte, president of the National Unity Party (NUP).

The Bicolano was referring to House Bill (HB) No.8500, which he co-authored. Also known as the proposed “New Philippine Building Act,” the bill aims to amend the 1977 National Building Code.

Villafuerte says the bill actually preserves the power of local government units (LGUs) to issue their own statutes or regulations concerning buildings in their respective localities, for so long as these ordinances jibe with this proposed law.

The 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit northwest of the city of Sagaing in Myanmar last Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.4-magnitude aftershock. It destroyed buildings and bridges, and with massive destruction reported in that country’s second biggest city of Mandalay.

The quakes also caused structural damage in nearby Thailand.

The disaster has caused concerns here at home, since an earthquake of equal strength is seen to wreak havoc in Metro Manila. On top of this, local experts believe that the metropolis or the Philippines in general is long overdue for "the Big One".

According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the worst earthquake to ever hit the country occurred in August 1976 when at least 8,000 people died from a tremblor brought by the Cotabato Trench.

Villafuerte says the approval of a climate-friendly building code, as provided under HB No.8500, will pave the way to the integration of strategies on disaster risk reduction with those on urban and infrastructure planning.

He says HB No.8500 aims to create the Office of the NBO (ONBO), which is tasked to ensure that our buildings or structures are stronger or more tenacious in the faceof earthquakes, storms, floods, fires, landslides and other natural hazards of increasing frequency and intensity.

Related Tags

National Building Code Thailand EARTHQUAKE Myanmar lray villafuerte
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