Sara: Guard sued, 911 might sue, too

OBSTRUCTION of justice charges have been filed by the police on Tuesday afternoon against a security guard and the safety officer of a mall construction in Davao City.

Sued were security guard Florencio de Vera and safety officer Ivan Lagrata for refusing entry to policemen and the Central 911 rescue teams who responded to calls about an accident at the construction site.

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The roof deck being constructed at the escalator space of the fourth level of the building collapsed at around 6:40 a.m. Saturday.

Upon reporting on the scene, the Sta. Ana police and Central 911 were denied entry by the security guards. The police had to climb over the fence an hour later because the gates remained closed. They disarmed the guard and opened the gates to let the 911 Ambulance to enter.

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said according to Senior Inspector Ronald Lao, chief of the Sta. Ana Police Station, they gave ample time to the security guard to explain through an affidavit who gave the orders not to let the authorities enter the scene but said security guard failed to do so.

"The case would be by the policemen who were refused entry by the security guards. Lain pa ang sa 911 personnel complaint. Tanan man sila wala gipasulod (A different case would come from the 911 personnel complaint since all of them were not allowed to enter)," Duterte said in a text message.

Duterte said Lao reported to her Monday saying the security guard was just following orders from a superior.

Based on TV reports, Sta. Ana Police filed a case against security guard identified as Florencio de Vera for refusing to cooperate with the authorities.

The development site, dubbed Acendo, is a joint venture between the Ayala and the Florendo Group, said City Engineer Jose Gestuveo Jr. in an interview Tuesday.

"This houses the two big investors, the Ayala Land and the Robinsons. The incident where a collapsed roof deck happened is in the Robinsons four-story building," he said.

In an official statement released Saturday by the general contractor, DDT Konstract Inc. said while workers were pouring concrete at the roof deck of a portion of Robinsons building inside Abreeza Mall project, the formworks collapsed.

This led to the death of Crispin Disalisa, a resident of Metro Manila, when slabs of concrete and other heavy materials from a portion of the fourth level of the building fell on him.

It was reported that the 911 rescue team were only able to retrieve Disalisa from where he was buried at past 9 a.m. He was declared dead when brought to the hospital.

Injured workers were identified as Marciano Polbo, 29, of Daliaon Plantation, Toril; Jimmy Delos Santos, 36, of San Antonio, Nueva Ecija; Remwels Balirio, 23, of Talisay, Cebu; and Joey Rey Soson, 22, of Calinan, Davao City.

Officials on Monday have expressed that said act of barring authorities violated Constitutional laws on the right of the state to use its police power.

The city mayor on Monday expressed her displeasure on the matter, agreeing that said refusal of entry is form of obstruction of justice.

"Ang question ana, ang contractor ba ang nag-order to refuse entry, ang Abreeza or ang Robinson's Supermarket? Kung kinsa sa ilaha ang nag-order, sila and naay liability sa obstruction (The question is, who ordered the barring of the gates? Was it Abreeza or Robinson's Supermarket? Whoever it was, they stand liable for obstruction)," Duterte said.

"The collapse is a different case. The victims would be the proper party to file against the contractor and/or Abreeza," Duterte said.

Duterte said that there were also "no efforts" to inform authorities that there have been casualties within the construction site.

"Kanang Abreeza, kabalo na sila (Abreeza knows this), we traced the call to the 911, the report did not come from them. It came from a security guard from a neighboring establishment. According to the 911 they received three calls reporting incidents at the construction, two in the morning and one in the afternoon. All of these did not come from Abreeza," Duterte said in vernacular.

City Planning and Development Officer officer-in-charge Robert Alabado in an interview Monday also vented his frustration on the matter.

"Everyone who is in the city has the right to be protected. If there was an order not to let the authorities come in then it should be sought if that order was unlawful. At a time like that na meron nang grave consequence sa incident then every second counts to save that life," Alabado said.

Meanwhile, Davao City police director Rene Aspera offered the city's investigation records on the matter to the victims of said incident.

"If the aggrieved party would file a case it would be for reckless imprudence resulting to death and injuries. May kasalanan dun ang contractor, that's if kung may interes (ang victims) na magfile ng case," Aspera said in an interview at the DCPO conference room Monday night where suspects to a robbery with homicide were presented.

"On records we have evidences, in investigating, in filing, we will help if the aggrieved parties would file a case," Aspera said.

Aspera, however, noted that in incidents like this, the aggrieved party, which is the construction workers, would oblige to offers of settlement.

"Alam mo naman pag ganyan, ayaw nga nila tayong papasukin kasi tinatago nila eh," Aspera said. (Jade C. Zaldivar)