A WEEK after the collapse of a nine-stores building in the business district of Barangay Balibago, responders retrieved four more casualties bringing the death toll to ten.
The legal counsels of the owner, a certain Ernest Jackson Lim, and the contractor, Golden Years and Steel Works, assured the families of the victims that funeral and burial expenses will be accorded to them.
“Our priority right now is to help the families of the casualties,” according to Atty. Nico Manguerra.
The four bodies was recovered from the rubble wherein the 7th fatality was recovered at 7:42 a.m. on Sunday, the 8th casualty was retrieved around 2:51 PM, next was around 3: 42PM and the last was at 4:27PM as responders speed up the search, rescue, and retrieval operations continue hoping to find survivors at ground zero.
The identity of the casualties were not yet identified as of press time. The first six casualties recovered in the area were Roberto Sabile, father of the 5th victim identified as Christian Sabile, who was found by a K9 rescue unit of the Philippine Coast Guard a day before; Mohd Rezal Abdullah, a Malaysian national; Mark Laurence Capungay, Porperio Alikaway, Christian Sabile, all construction workers, and an unidentified male.
Atty. Manguerra said they will now work closely with the Angeles LGU, who formed a fact-finding body to investigate the building collapse. He said they will conduct a parallel investigation.
