CA affirms QC exec’s dismissal over Manor Hotel fire

The Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal from government service of the former chief of the Quezon City business permits and licensing office (BPLO) for gross negligence in connection with the Manor Hotel fire that killed 74 people in 2001.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Rosmari Carandang, the appellate court’s Third Division dismissed the petition for review filed by Rafael Galvez seeking to nullify the memorandum issued by the Office of the Ombudsman on July 26, 2004 finding him guilty of gross negligence for allowing the hotel to operate without the necessary permit and despite violations of the Building and Fire Code.

In seeking a reversal of the Ombudsman’s resolution, Galvez argued that the hotel’s business permit that was issued on January 2001 expired on June 30, 2001.

He said that since the fire occurred after June 30, 2001, the permit has no connection to the fire and the alleged misconduct and negligence imputed against him are extinguished with the expiration of the said permit.

Galvez added that as BPLO chief, it is not his duty to inspect and supervise the construction, repair, removal and safety of private buildings, which is the responsibility of the city building officials and engineers.

However, the appellate court ruled that petitioner has the “complementary duty and responsibility” to check that the business establishment, prior to the issuance of a business permit, has faithfully complied with the provisions of the building and fire codes.

The CA also said the issuance of a business permit is essentially an exercise of police power and the petitioner should have first considered the safety and general welfare of the community over the matter of raising the city government’s revenue.

Galvez should not have issued “the permit on a merely routinary basis, considering that there was a prior report of the fire marshall recommending its closure,” the appellate court said.

Last Feb. 14, the Court of Appeals’s Sixth Division also upheld an order of the Office of the Ombudsman dismissing Quezon City engineer Alfredo Macapugay from government service after he was also found liable in the Manor Hotel fire.