EIGHT of the 33 individuals who are facing criminal and administrative cases over the fire that gutted the New City Commercial Center (NCCC) in Maa, Davao City and killed 38 people have not filed their counter affidavits.

Those who have not filed their counter affidavits are two personnel from AC Rockport, two from Sampling Survey International (SSI), and four firemen.

As of now, the NCCC fire incident case is still under the Preliminary Investigation (PI) stage. The PI is a proceeding to identify if there is enough evidence that a crime was committed and the respondents are probably guilty and should be held on trial.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor Robin Michael Razon said in an interview with Sunstar Davao Wednesday, November 7, that there are 60 days in PI from the receipt of the complaint but it can be extended by investigating prosecutors due to the numerous documents and respondent involved in the case.

"Nag sabi si City Prosecutor Ledesma that they will try their best to resolve it before anniversary, (City Prosecutor also said that they will try their best to resolve it before the anniversary," Razon added.

Razon further said there might be a possibility that the City Prosecutor would add a panel of prosecutors since there are large number of documents and respondents.

"Bahala na strategy sa panel of prosecutors if mag constitute ng panel (It is up to the prosecutor to constitute a panel)," Razon added.

Fire hit the mall on December 23, 2017. A total of 38 individuals perished while damage to property was placed at around P 1.6 billion.