First Oceanic and Empire East: May 2011

Thursday, May 5, 2011

My Dream has become a nightmare

I dreamed of living in a condo. I worked hard to achieve it and sometime in 2004 an agent by the name of Arnold Macalintal offered an aristocratic community nestled in the heart of New Manila. It was at pre-selling stage and the fliers, brochures, presentation and the price were ALL mouth watering. On the same day that the property was offered to me, I made my reservation.

After 2 years of delay in construction, after 2 years of following up like hell in Empire East, after 2 years of shouldering both my condo amortization and my old apartment rental, I transferred to my dream house.

For five years of living here I was stressed by the quality of work done to finish my dream house and was disappointed by the quality of services given to us by Empire East Land holdings and First Oceanic Property Management

My dream has become a nightmare

THE PROMISE (Please click pics to enlarge)

Empire East Land Holdings Inc Property Review

The brochure says "INDULGE in a lifestyle others can only fantasize about. At a genteel community with a refreshing garden feeling."

Genteel means, aristocratic or elegantly stylish

THE REALITY (Please click pics to enlarge)

This is empire East Land Holding's interpretation of ELEGANTLY STYLISH community

This is the look of our hallway when it was turned over to us.

Improvements have been done but still far from the definition of the word genteel.

Empire East Land Holdings Inc Property Review

The hallways as of April 2011

Empire East Land Holdings Inc Property Review

The condo entrance, cracks in the pavements are everywhere. A sign of poor construction. Very genteel!

Empire East Land Holdings Inc Property Review

THE PROMISE (Please click pic to enlarge)

"TEXTURED PAINTED FINISH" (Base wall - light brown and upper wall- beige)

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

THE REALITY (Please click pic to enlarge)

Is this what they mean of textured painted finish? Parang naparami yata ang texture! LOL

Pictures taken, April 2011

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

THE PROMISE (Click pic to enlarge)

Marked with water feature

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

THE REALITY (Click pic to enlarge)

No water feature and it wasn't practical to put it because of limited space, Sana di na lang pinangako!

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

THE PROMISE

Strict 24 hour security

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

THE REALITY

A lot of unit owners have been victims of burglary and theft. I was one of those victims and it happened to me twice.

THE PROMISE

Guest Parking

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

THE REALITY

The area indicated in the site plan is now a restaurant. The promised guest parking existed only in the brochures.

THE PROMISE

The brochure says,"Easy does it in your very own playground. A swimming pool with sun deck, clubhouse, CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND and well-landscaped garden will make everyday a holiday."

THE REALITY

After five years the playground simply vaporizes

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

Empire East Land Holdings Inc does not know how to spell the word "safe"

WE ARE

NOT SAFE (?)

IN CASE OF EARTHQUAKE AND FIRE

The annual fire drill conducted by First Oceanic property management is just for a show to give the residents and unit owners the impression that our building is safe. The sad reality is, our Condominium operates without the necessary safety permits from the local city government.

The fire safety inspection certificate that the admin has since it operates does not include the four residential towers of our condominium. The only building inspected and paid for inspection by Oceanic is their 5sqm admin office.

The fire exits of the four towers do not conform to the safety standards set by the Bureau of Fire and Protection. Several violations are very obvious.

In case of earthquake, fire usually follows. The fire exits offer little protection to unit owners and tenants.

Through a written request to Quezon City Government, an inspection was done headed by Engr Guaio and SF01 Redentor Rivera last April 2011. The inspection has confirmed that our condominium has not passed the safety standards set by the Office of the Building Officials and the Bureau of Fire and Protection.

Remember the Manor Hotel and Ozone disco tragedies where hundreds of people died due to fire. Both establishments did not follow the safety standards set by the Bureau of Fire. It is not far that the same thing could happen to the us if Empire East Land Holdings, the board members and officers, and First Oceanic remain insensitive to the needs and safety of the residents.

I was present during the inspection and below are the safety violations that I can recall:

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

Door of Main stair at ground floor not swing in the direction of exit travel at tower 4 in violation of rule 3 division 4 sec 3 402 para B (2) of the pd 1185

Fire exit doors not provided with panic hardware latch in violation of rule 3 division 4 section 3.402 para F of the PD 1185

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

Door of garbage chute not provided with self closing device, in violation of Rule 3 Division 6 sec 3.603 para A of the PD 1185

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

No illuminated exit signs in violation of rule 3 div 10 sec 3.1004 para B (5) (b) of the PD 1185

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

The elevators of the four towers do not have the necessary inspection certificate from the office of the building officials. No wonder a lot of residents have been trapped inside the elevators.

Fire exits and stairwells are not pressurized, exit doors have gaps at the bottom where smoke can easily pass through.

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

A lot of sprinklers are not properly installed and are almost buried in the ceiling.

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

There could be more violations and the pictures below can clearly speak for that undeniable fact.

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

Broken fire exit door/window

Empire East Land Holdings Inc

I would like to quote the declaration in the fire Safety Inspection Certificate issued by the Bureau of fire:

“Violation of Fire Code provisions shall IPSO FACTO immediately cause this certification to become null and void, and shall hold the owner of the building liable to the penalties provided for by the said Fire Code 2008 (RA-9514)”

I was present during the inspection and I have been asking for a copy of the results since then but first Oceanic property management, the board and Empire East property continue to decline my request.