Living practically or for safety's sake?

By Pamela Cabrera


WHICH is more important, saving money or safety?

Living in the busy and polluted atmosphere of Manila, in every corner of the streets you could see signage of “room for rent,” “dormitory, inquire inside,” or “wanted: bedspacer.” But for a money-wise person, is it good to go for a cheap-priced rent but it will only give you an old apartment boarded with different kinds of people than to pay a high rate and assures you a nice space to live?

28-year old Abby Solang, an employee of a maritime company and currently renting a 4-door room inside a 4- story apartment along Claro M. Recto in Manila for 4 months because he was taking a training course near the said apartment.

“I have no choice,” Abby said in Tagalog regarding the reason why he chose that apartment rather than renting a good one at an expensive rate. “It is cheap and near my training center,” he added.

“There are also no rules implemented by our landlord here,” he said but the good thing about the place Abby narrated is that even though there are different borders in each room, majority of them came from the same province (Benguet or La Union). It seems that they do know each other well. “We are like brothers in this place, but we practice privacy with each other’s stuff," he added.

Most of the borders in the apartment were employees, students from nearby colleges and universities and mostly nursing graduates who are currently reviewing for their board examination just around the block.

Upon seeing the façade of the apartment, one gets an idea that it was probably been closed for years because of the narrow passageways going to the floors of the apartment. Adding up is the ground floor frontage which is composed of different repairing shops and food stalls.

The building apartment was established in 1955 and according to a landlady managing the rents in the apartment that it [apartment] suffered from earthquakes but still remains standing.

“This building has gone into series of earthquake incidents, but there is no occurrence of a major building destruction,” said Violeta Villaseňor in Tagalog; who had been living in the same building for more than 10 years and running the business of room rentals for 4 years. “It is made of heavy cement,” she added.

Villaseňor’s borders were mostly nursing students taking up their review courses in a nearby review center. But she is strictly implementing “all-girls” policy with her borders and strict rules with the visiting hours and curfews.

“I treat them as my own child, since all my children have their own lives now,” she said. That is why she is very strict with her female borders since they were her ‘kargo’ to their parents.

Safety is a must
Every boarding house should have their proper safety precautions at all times to prepare their tenants for further incidents like fire and earthquake.

“We have fire exit in one of the rooms in case of emergency,” Mrs. Villaseňor said in Tagalog. Villaseñor's boarding house underwent series of inspections by the Manila City Hall for sanitation and safety measures, and so far it had passed the inspections.

Meanwhile Abby revealed that in their room, they do not have any fire exits but they do have fire extinguishers somewhere inside the room. "We are fearful of emergencies because the stairs are narrow,” he said regarding the safety measures he and his fellow boarders are preparing in case of unexpected incidents. “We will just flee for our lives,” he added.

Orders from the city administration
According to Executive Order 7 of the Manila City Hall issued by Mayor Alfredo Lim in 2007, wherein a committee was ordered to conduct an intensive inspection among dormitories and boarding houses in Manila.

This is to ensure that every establishment follows the proper and required operation in accordance with sanitation, fire and safety laws presented by the executive order.

Prior to this, the Manila administration also issued an ordinance that prescribes the rules and regulations among boarding houses and its respective punishment if ever one of which was violated.

Every dormitory and boarding house in the jurisdiction of Manila will undergo series of inspections conducted by authorized personnel from the Chairman of the Committee on Dormitories as inspectors for each dormitory. Starting from the number of regularly accepted boarders as prescribed on the basic guidelines for operation given by the Manila City Hall.

In line with this, inspectors must also take notice of the basic requirements such as the authentic mayor and business permits; the fire safety inspection and final electrical inspection certificates and many other permits were being ensured for the safety of every boarders and tenants.

However, when any of these provisions of this Ordinance were violated by any boarding house or dormitory; the license and permit to operate after being given its first until its final notice will be invalidated by the Mayor.