Saturday, October 14, 2006 CICC worker dies at building site By Aledel G. Cuizon & Jeanette P. Malinao Sun.Star Staff Reporters
A CONSTRUCTION worker at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) died last Wednesday night.
The scaffolding he was standing on was reportedly grounded.
Revencio Adlawan, 33, was a helper of one of the welders at the site in Mandaue City.
He and other coworkers were putting up beams on the second floor of the CICC when the accident happened around 8:50 p.m.
When the welder called on Adlawan, the latter did not respond.
Adlawan was slumped on the scaffolding, prompting other workers to think he was just sleeping.
Other workers reportedly jeered at him for sleeping early even if there was still work to do.
When Adlawan didn’t move, coworkers approached him and realized something was wrong.
Adlawan collapsed on the scaffolding about five feet high from the floor of the second storey.
He was rushed to the Mandaue City Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Adlawan’s relatives suspect a cover-up because his death was reported to police as having been caused by a heart attack.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia ordered an autopsy on Adlawan.
Monitor
Initially, however, architect Manuel Guanzon said the cause of death may not have been electrocution, as raised by the family, since the other men holding the beam were not hurt.
“But let’s wait for the autopsy report,” Guanzon told Sun.Star Cebu. He also said safety at the construction site is being monitored by the labor department.
WT, the contractor, is taking care of the financial needs of Adlawan’s family such as giving P85,000 for the coffin, revealed Guanzon.
Garcia, for her part, said all financial assistance will be handled by the contractor.
Guanzon said the project is covered by third-party liability and insurance, aside from SSS benefits for workers.
Capitol cannot answer questions on the wage and benefits received by those working at the CICC, Garcia said, as they only countercheck claims of percentage completion when the contractor bills them.
Project
“This is a project. We pay per accomplishment of scope of work. This is not a service contract for janitorial or security. We pay for project cost, not for labor cost. It should be the contractor that must answer questions on wages,” she said in a telephone interview.
The CICC, main venue of the Asean summit in December, is 95 percent complete.
With three shifts, a day at the site is equivalent to three normal working days, said Guanzon.
Power lines are also already in place, said Paul Hubahib of the Visayan Electric Co.
The power company finished the work last week and tested and cleared the transformer that the Capitol bought for the facility.
The Provincial Government has been doing all it can to avoid delays, said Garcia, co-chairperson of the Cebu Organizing Committee for the Asean summit.
Earlier, she confirmed that they gave the partitioning works of the CICC to another contractor after concerns were raised that one was fake and was linked to a robbery.
Adlawan’s death raised safety concerns at the construction site.
One worker interviewed by Sun.Star Cebu said that he already noticed last Tuesday that the scaffolding was grounded.
The incident reached Police Station 1 around 10:45 p.m. when the policemen assigned to patrol the CICC reported it.
Night
Based on the blotter, SPO1 Eduardo Cabase and PO1 Rey Polar said Adlawan was found lifeless by coworkers and taken to the hospital.
Security guard Romulo Manatad, who was on duty last Wednesday night, said that there are many speculations on the cause of death since nobody actually saw what happened.
He told Sun.Star Cebu that Adlawan could have suffered a heart attack, got electrocuted or fell.
He said Adlawan worked on the night shift.
In his logbook entry, Manatad stated that he noticed people arguing on the second floor.
He found out that they were panicking as they looked for a way to bring Adlawan down and rush him to the hospital.
