DOJ forms team to probe Cagayan blaze

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – The regional state prosecutor here has created a panel of investigators to determine those who could be held accountable for the tragic fire that killed 16 people, mostly nursing graduates, last Sunday.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo also ordered Tuguegarao Mayor Delfin Ting to submit a report on the apparent failure of the city’s local business permit section to enforce the fire safety inspection requirement.

Robredo earlier said he would coordinate with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in determining the culpability of people responsible for the incident, particularly the local government and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) here.

Regional State Prosecutor Rommel Baligod named State Prosecutors Ronel Nicolas and Marinet Daliuag and city police chief Supt. Pedro Martirez to the DOJ panel of investigators.

The creation of the DOJ investigating panel was made upon orders issued by Secretary Leila de Lima.

Martirez blamed the local fire department’s inadequate equipment such as ax, ladders and steel cutters, which could have helped them in rescuing more trapped hotel guests.

He said the hotel lacked fire extinguishers, fire alarms and escape routes.

Fire officials ruled short circuit caused by overloaded current as cause of the fire that razed the Bed and Breakfast Pension House.

Dondi Viernes, one of the survivors, said the lights inside the hotel were blinking hours before the fire broke out.

SFO2 Daniel Abana said the blinking lights were signs that there was short circuit.

Abana said the influx of guest during that fateful night further compounded the overloading of electrical load in the hotel.

He said the hotel complied with the necessary requirements for fire exits and ladders, but admitted that the city BFP failed to inspect the ill-fated establishment this year as it last secured its Mayor’s Permit and fire safety clearance in 2009.

City BFP chief Neil Carangian was immediately relieved of duty.

Abana also admitted that there were violations of fire code such as obstruction in the hotel’s stairway where motorcycle parts and other materials were stocked.

A motorcycle and parts center is located on the ground floor of the hotel.

Grief-stricken

Meanwhile, students and faculty of University of La Sallette in Santiago, Isabela were grief-stricken as the remains of six of the 10 nursing graduates who perished in last Sunday’s fire were brought out of the University of La Salette compound after a one-day wake inside the school auditorium.

“It’s all God’s will. One day we will all understand what this is all about. We have just to be strong and keep our faith,” said Fr. Cris Arellano as the school bade farewell to its graduates.

Fr. Arellano of the university’s Ramon (Isabela) town campus, is an uncle of Francis Carambas, one of the victims.

Carambas’ remains were brought to their hometown in Alaminos, Pangasinan past noon yesterday. It was the last to be taken out of the university compound, hours after the remains of five others had been brought to their respective hometowns in Isabela.

The remains of their other four companions who died in the fire were brought directly from the Ortiz Funeral Home in Tuguegarao City to their hometowns in various parts of the province.

Grieving province

The Isabela provincial government said it would provide aid to the families of the ten nursing graduates, nine of them natives of the province, who died from the fire.

“We are one in grief with our constituents over this tragic incident. The provincial government will be providing assistance to the families of our constituents who died in the fire,” Vice Gov. Rodito Albano said.

The province, he said, bore the brunt of the tragedy as most of the fatalities were young and promising citizens of the province, whose parents had toiled hard just to be able to send their children to college.

“The dreams of their parents have all gone now. What could have been a promising future for those who perished in the fire just ended that way,” Albano lamented.

Earlier, Cagayan third district Rep. Randolph Ting said the city government of Tuguegarao would also extend assistance to the bereaved families.

Ting, also a former three-term mayor of Tuguegarao, called on the city government, led by his father, Mayor Deltin Ting, to declare a day of mourning.

Albano joined mounting calls for a thorough investigation into the fire incident, stressing that those responsible for the deaths should pay for their ineptitude or neglect.

“We especially call on the Bureau of Fire Protection to conduct an investigation on the incident aside from reevaluation and retraining of their personnel throughout the country to prevent the repetition of such an incident,” said Albano.

He also called on the Tuguegarao City government to file charges against whoever was responsible for allowing the pension house to operate despite its reported lack of mayor’s permit and fire safety permit.

The other day, Cagayan first district Rep. Jack Enrile said he would initiate a congressional inquiry over last Sunday’s fire. – Charlie Lagasca