Building owners liable for Makati fire deaths?

Officials of the Makati City Fire Department are pointing their fingers at administration personnel of the ABC Guadalupe Commercial Complex for the death of three women in a fire that hit the building last Thursday night.

Superintendent Arsenio Tabajonda, fire chief of Makati, has initially summoned the four security guards on duty during the night of the fire to determine the actual cause of the incident.

Security guards Al Mendares, Jun Saclao, Salvador Dulay and their supervisor Ruben Geromino, of the Octagon Security Agency were all on-duty at the time the fire struck at about 7:45 p.m.

The fire officials are determined to pinpoint liability for the fire due to the circumstances of the deaths of the three women.

Initial investigation conducted by the Makati City Fire Department revealed that the victims, Olivia Banares Bea, 27; Josephine Cabucu and Brenda Marasigan, 30, all freelance insurance agents, were trapped inside the building, whose officials had been told to suspend operations indefinitely to enable authorities to check on the structural integrity of the building.

Narcisa dela Merced, the building's owner and her building administrator, Bienvenido Villegas, are being investigated by the City Engineering Office for possible negligence.

Tabajonda said the statements of the guards are vital to the investigation. "We can pinpoint who shall be held responsible for this," said Tabajonda who noted that the guards were not yet being held as suspects.

Fire investigators speculated that faulty electrical wiring was the likely cause of the fire which reportedly originated from a dental office on the third floor.

They are still looking at two other possibilities -- a reported blast inside the dental clinic and the explosion of 10 liquefied petroleum gas tanks in the canteen, also on the third floor.

The explosion ignited flames that spread to the adjacent Trace Computer School and the gym.

The almost five-hour fire damaged the third and fourth floors of the building. Losses from the fire were estimated at P2 million.