Angeles City Mayor Carmelo “Jon” Lazatin II said a fact-finding team had been formed to investigate the collapse of a nine-storey building in Barangay Balibago that already claimed six casualties.
In a press briefing held at the Angeles City LGU Legislative Building on Saturday, May 30, Lazatin said a fact-finding team had been formed to investigate the collapse of the building early Sunday morning last May 24.
Structural engineers will be included in the fact finding team, according to Mayor Lazatin.
Responders at ground zero had already retrieved six casualties — four construction workers, a Malaysian national, and an unidentified male casualty.
Only the lawyers attended the press conference representing the building owner.
Lawyer Nico Manguerra, legal counsel of owner Ernest Jackson Lim, and the contractor, Golden Years and Steel Works, based in Malabon, said they are now focused on providing assistance to the affected construction workers and their families.
Manguerra said families of the two casualties had already reached out to the owner and contractor for funeral and burial and financial assistance.
He said they already provided a list of the construction workers who were on duty last Saturday, May 23, when heavy winds and rains uprooted old trees in Angeles City.
Atty. Willy Rivera, also a representative of the owner and contractor, said his clients will also conduct a parallel investigation and would cooperate with the Angeles LGU fact-finding committee.
“We will conduct a parallel investigation to clarify and verify what really happened,” said Atty. Rivera.
“We will also secure the services of structural engineers,” according to Atty. Rivera to determine the cause of the structural failure.
He added that as of now they cannot conclude anything.
At least 14 individuals are still unaccounted for, the Bureau of Fire said but lawyers submitted a list of 18 construction workers affected by the incident.
The site of the building collapse is within the Clark airport aerodrome where high rise buildings cropped up in recent years.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) regulates the height restrictions of buildings being constructed within the aerodrome.
The contractor applied for exemption from the height limitations back in 2023 in the Angeles LGU.
It is not known if the contractor complied with CAAP requirement on height regulation.
Atty. Rivera said Angeles City Engineer Don Dizon could have shed light on the structural failure but the latter had already died back in 2023.
Angeles LGU counsel Atty. Darwin Reyes said criminal
liability faces the contractor and even Angeles LGU engineers if negligence will be proven.
It is now the 7th day the Unified Command’s Search, Rescue, and Retrieval Operations run round-the-clock at the 9-storey collapsed structure at Brgy. Balibago, Angeles City.
To give way for an impartial investigation, the Angeles LGU suspended Engr. Marlon Lingat, City Engineer’s Office Structural Engineer; and Arch. Norbert Lagman, OCBO, City Building Official
