8 charged for death of mall workers

CEBU, Philippines - Criminal charges were filed yesterday against employees of CYC Construction in relation to the collapse of a firewall of a mall undergoing construction, which killed five workers about two weeks ago.

The Cebu City Police Office named contractor Charlie Yu Chiu, project engineer Necito Caldosa and lead man Jesryl Villena as respondents in a complaint for reckless imprudence resulting to homicide.

Five others, including the project manager, project architect, general foreman, lead steel man, and lead mason are also facing charges, but PO3 Geoffrey Gutual, the officer in charge of the case, said they are yet to get the names of the five.

Construction workers Deonny Delan, 30, his brother Christian, 27, Teodulfo Detuman, Lyndon Melendrez, 18, and Argie Ceniza, 27, met their untimely death when the firewall of Gaisano Capital Mall collapsed last April 7.

Among the documents attached to the complaint is the report of the Office of the Building Official, which states that parapet wall constructed was much higher than what was approved by OBO and stipulated in the building permit.

OBO said the permit only allows a 1.00 meter parapet, but the actual construction reportedly measured approximately 2.30 meters high.

OBO also said “the contractor did not provide adequate protective measures like safety nets and scaffoldings and its workers have no hard hats and other protective gears.”

OBO recommended that protective measures should be put in place by the contractor and hazardous structures like leaning columns and beams should be immediately be removed to prevent further damage.

The office recommended further that the firm hire a structural engineer and a consultant from the city government to assess the cause of the collapse.  

Also attached to the complaint are the joint affidavits of Gutual, PO2 Leroy Baguio, PO2 Cristobal Geronimo, and PO2 Lou Pagara, the homicide personnel who first responded to the incident.

The affidavit and the incident report of the responding personnel of the Cebu City Disaster and Coordinating Council were also included, as well as the spot report, operation report of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation, Certification from the Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Inc., and the Death certificates of the deceased.

Gutual clarified the families of the deceased never cooperated by the police.

City Police Director Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador believes they have sufficiently established a case and the ball is now up to the prosecutor’s office.

Comendador, however, said the owners of the mall do not have any criminal liability, as they were not involved directly in the incident.   (FREEMAN NEWS)