Monday, March 26, 2007 City to pay Buhisan family P250T, 9 years after death of 2 children
THE Cebu City Council last week set aside P250,000 as compensation for a family that lost two sons when an excavation site of a government road project in Barangay Buhisan caved in eight years ago.
The court ordered the City Government, the barangay, and then barangay captain Menandro Diola to pay Eduardo Wilson Nadela Sr.’s family for the death of John Carlo, 7, and Eduardo Wilson Jr., 11.
The court asked that Nadela be paid P125,000 for each dead child. But the barangay could only afford to pay for one child, and asked the City to shoulder the other P125,000.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña, though, opted to have City Hall pay the entire amount.
Of the amount, P25,000 was for temperate damages, P50,000 as indemnity, and P50,000 as moral damages for each child.
The court found the government negligent in failing to place warning signs and other safety measures in the area.
John Carlo and Eduardo Wilson died in January 1999 when a portion of the excavation site where they were playing collapsed on them.
Nadela had argued that had efforts been exerted to secure the project area, his two sons would still be alive.
Diola, for his part, said there were warning signs in the area, but these were destroyed and removed.
He said Nadela used his sons in conducting illegal quarrying in the area, and was, therefore, the one who was negligent.
The City Government also told the court that the road project was a barangay endeavor and at most, all it did was provide heavy equipment.
But the court found City Hall, Buhisan and Diola jointly liable for negligence and ordered them to pay the Nadela family.
The decision was upheld by the Court of Appeals.
Last Wednesday, the City Council charged the P250,000 to the second supplemental budget as recommended by the mayor. (RHM)
