12 more sacked for Manor fire

Twelve more Quezon City and Bureau of Fire Protection officials were suspended for "six months without pay" by the Ombudsman yesterday on charges of neglect leading to the Aug. 18 Manor Hotel fire that killed 74 persons.

"Considering that the charges against them would warrant their removal from the service; that the evidence of guilt is strong; and that their continued stay in office may prejudice the case, they should be placed under preventive suspension," Ombudsman Aniano Desierto said.

Suspended were Quezon City Hall license inspectors Godfrey Colet, Jose Caluag and Voltaire Padilla, utility worker Willy Perez, Industrial Safety Division chief Julius Villanueva, inspector Rodel Mesa, Annual Building Inspection section chief Ernesto Madrilejo, Winston Angeles and Luis Sol Jr., both from the building office, District Fire Marshall Chief Inspector Mario San Diego, Senior Fire Officer 4 Rodolfo Espina and Senior Fire Officer 1 Arnel Pinca.

Desierto said the BFP and city officials "neglected to inspect" the hotel, which was a firetrap having violated numerous provisions in the Building Code, and issued permits that the hotel owners were "not entitled" to.

"The requisite and proper permits were not secured for the improvements and constructions, there are no records of annual inspections conducted, so much so that the officials failed to discover the jumper connections," he said.

On Aug. 29, the Ombudsman suspended 12 others – among them Alfredo Macapugay (City Engineer’s Office chief), inspectors Donato Rivera, Romualdo Santos, Severino Mariano, Rafael Galvez (Business Permit Licensing chief), electrical inspectors Romeo Montallana and Gerardo Villaseñor, Reynaldo Simpao, chief of the inspectorate division of BFP, former Q.C. Fire Marshall Ricardo Lemence, and BFP officials Manuel Baduria Jr., Carlito Romero and Teodorico Gaela.

Desierto said graft investigators found strong evidence against the government officials because they committed "gross neglect of duty" when they deliberately ignored the violations in the Building and Fire Codes of the hotel owners.

"We need to suspend them preventively so that records would not be tampered with and other witnesses would not be harassed while the investigation is ongoing," he told newsmen.

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. had earlier relieved Macapugay, Galvez, Montallana, Villaseñor and four others a few days after the tragedy took place.

Investigators of the Ombudsman’s Fact-Finding and Investigation Bureau concluded that there was "sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case" against the government officials.

The panel, composed of graft probers Rodolfo Dayrit, Benhur Villamora and Eduardo Olaveria, recommended that they be charged "criminally and administratively" for "reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and graft" as well.

"Considering that the evidence of guilt is strong and that their continued stay in office may prejudice the case against them, it is respectfully recommended that they be preventively suspended for six months without pay," they said.

The Ombudsman has stepped into the Manor Hotel fire probe to find out whether government officials had really been lax in granting business permits to William Tan Genato, owner of the hotel.

Leniency in implementing rules, according to Desierto, "had made it very easy for building contractors and of course there have been orders, they circumvent this rule."

"We will look into it this time more exhaustively not only on the criminal aspect but also on the administrative efficiency of the offices. That is one of the basic functions of the Ombudsman. "