Tuguegarao fire victims' families file damage suit

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines  – The families of nine of the 10 nursing board examines who were killed in last year’s hotel fire in Tuguegarao City have filed a multimillion-peso damage suit against a Catholic university.

Besides the University of La Salette of Santiago City, the victims’ families also included the Tuguegarao City government and the Bed and Breakfast Pension House.

The nine-page civil complaint for actual compensatory, moral and exemplary damages amounting to P22.5 million, or P2.5 million for each of the victims’ families, was filed before Regional Trial Court Branch 24 in Echague, Isabela the other day.

The victims’ families had to pool their resources to come up with the filing fee of P500,000.

“We will fight to the end even if the case could drag on until it reaches the Supreme Court,” said lawyer Federico Abuan, the complainants’ legal counsel. 

The complainants are the parents of fire victims Romualdo Respicio, Marlon Justin Viernes, Jerome Saet, Henderson Lodevico, Richard Allen Gonzales, Nel Mar Galapia, Ryan James Malaki, Neil Jenzen Lopez, and Jose Julius Gadduang.

The victims, aged 19 to 32, died in the five-hour blaze that engulfed the Bed and Breakfast Pension House in Tuguegarao City where their school, University of La Salette, had billeted them for their nursing licensure exam the following day.

The victims’ parents accused the university of negligence for allegedly not ensuring the safety of their children when it billeted them in the four-story lodging house, which was later found to be lacking in fire safety devices. 

Earlier, the task force formed by the Department of Justice on orders of President Aquino, also sought the filing of administrative charges against the school for alleged failure to look after the safety of their nursing graduates.

The task force also recommended the filing of administrative cases against Tuguegarao City Mayor Delfin Ting for command responsibility, and four other city employees, Ireneo Taguibao, business permit licensing officer; Emilio Matanguihan, city engineer; Ruben Flores, electrical inspector; and Leonida Badajos, records officer, for allowing the lodging house to operate without regular safety standards inspection.

The DOJ also recommended that administrative cases be slapped against then city fire marshal Superintendent Neil Caraguian and Senior Fire Officer Paulino Camacam, then the fire arson investigator, for neglect of duty.

Criminal charges were also recommended against the hotel owners, Pepito Fondevilla, 60, and his wife Araceli, for negligence and imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and physical injuries.

The Fondevillas themselves lost two of their children, a daughter-in-law, two grandchildren and a household help in the blaze.

Regional state prosecutor Ronel Nicolas, head of the DOJ-led fact finding team, earlier said their findings may be used by the victims’ families to file a case against the university and other parties which they hold responsible for the incident.

University officials could not be immediately reached for comment. However, they earlier said they were ready to answer allegations of lapses on their part, adding that they made the best for their students.

“Our clinical instructors did their best in ensuring the safety of our graduates,” Dr. Levita Castro, university vice president for academic affairs, was then quoted as saying.