Pagadian City - Zamboanga Del Sur News and Information

THE BUREAU OF Fire Protection (BFP), through City Fire Marshal Christopher Morales, announced they will start collecting fire code fees for this year as part of the pre-requisites for the issuance of new business permits and renewals. Morales said their move is part of the government’s mandate to fully implement RA 9514,

the Comprehensive Fire Code of the Philippines, through the collections of fees in respective local government units. He said in an interview inside his office that they were a bit late in conducting their collections owing to the delay of the arrival of receipts coming from the BFP national office.

For this year, the BFP will collect 10 percent from the charges imposed by the local government on all new and renewed business permits as fire safety inspection fees.

For building permits, the BFP will collect a tenth of the verified estimated value of buildings or structures to be erected as fire code construction tax.

Morales said this fee will not exceed P50,000 half of which will be prior to the issuance of the building permit, and the balance, after final inspection and prior to the issuance of the use and occupancy permit.

Another fee to be collected is the fire code realty tax, which is 0.01% of a building’s assessed, to be collected annually and payable upon payment of the real estate tax, except on structures used as single family dwellings.

Morales added that 80 percent of the total collected fire code fees will be remitted to the National Treasury while the rest will be retained in the local purse to be used in the implementation of various projects and programs related to fire safety.
A BFP one-stop shop desk is being set up at the City Hall to attend to inquiries and receipt of payments, Morales said.