Barring of policemen, paramedics probed
Sunday, September 5, 2010
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POLICE are trying to determine who ordered that a paramedic team and policemen from Central 911 be barred from entering a construction site where an accident claimed the life of a worker and injured four others Saturday morning.
Senior Inspector Ronald Lao, chief of the Sta. Ana Police Station, told Sun.Star SuperBalita Sunday that they already interrogated the security guard who refused to open the gates for the paramedics and police around 6:50 a.m. Saturday.
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The guard, he said, was willing to cooperate with the police investigation.
Senior Police Officer (SPO) 2 Cesar Aaron Robles Jr., who was a member of the responding team from Sta. Ana Police Station, said they were not allowed to enter by a security guard who was later identified as Florencio de Vera.
De Vera told them he was under instructions from one Ivan Lagrata, their safety officer, not to allow anyone in until they have cleared the area.
Robles said they waited for almost an hour until their precinct commander told them to just climb over the wall to get in.
Inside, he said, they saw construction workers digging up the area where the structure collapsed, with one man already dead on the ground.
"Basig matabang pa diay to, kung gipasulod dayon me nila (Maybe he could have been saved had the rescue team allowed us to enter)," Robles said.
The fatality was identified as Crispin Desalisa, a resident of Metro Manila, while the wounded were identified as Marciano Polbo, 29, a resident of Daliaon Plantation, Toril; Jimmy Delos Santos, 36, a resident of San Antonio, Nueva Ecija; Remwels Balirio, 23, a resident of Talisay, Cebu; and Joey Rey Soson, 22, a resident of Calinan, Davao City.
Polbo, Delos Santos, Balirio and Soson were brought to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) but were transferred to the Davao Medical School Foundation Hospital.
The victims sustained bruises and wounds in different parts of the bodies.
Lao said the City Engineer's Office and Bureau of Fire and Protection are still conducting investigations on the construction site.
The management said it will take care of the medical and burial expenses of the victims. (Jereco O. Paloma/Alger Dura)
