DOJ turns over to NBI report on Davao Mall Christmas eve fire

Mick Basa

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DOJ turns over to NBI report on Davao Mall Christmas eve fire
DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra says NBI will evaluate and recommend the 'appropriate action'

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation for “evaluation and action” the report of the inter-agency investigation to the deadly NCCC mall fire in Davao City last year. 

“DOJ received the fire report last March. On 13 April, we referred the report to the NBI for evaluation and approriate action,” Guevarra told Rappler in a text message.

Guevarra reacted to queries on whether government was ready to file charges against those allegedly responsible behind the fire that killed at least 38 mall workers.

The report was the result of the investigation conducted by an inter-agency team led by Police Senior Superintendent Jerry Candido, Bureau of Fire (BFP) Protection Director for Logistics.

Guevarra said the bureau “will evaluate the report and, if evidence so warrants, to file the appropriate criminal/administrative complaints against the persons liable.”

“I directed the NBI to submit a periodic status to report to me on the matter,” said Guevarra, who recently replaced Vitaliano Aguirre II as DOJ secretary. It was Aguirre who first ordered the NBI to investigate the Christmas eve mall fire.

Several officials of the BFP will be facing charges over the Davao City mall fire,  the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said last month.

Cases are also being readied against the management of the NCCC Mall, including Survey Sampling International (SSI), Rockfort Construction Company, the Philippine Eeconomic Zone Authority, and the Davao City Building Office, according to Candido in an earlier report.

The fire broke out in the morning of December 23, 2017. Rescuers braved dark plumes of smoke and heat, but failed to rescue dozens of workers inside the mall. All except one of the victims were employees of American call center firm SSI. Firefighters would declare “fire out” 5 pm the next day. 

It was the second fire incident that hit a mall in the city last year, the first being the Gaisano Capital mall fire in January 2017.

The mall, located in Tugbok District, had just opened a year earlier in 2016. Soonafter the fire, authorities pointed out the mall had violated several provisions of the law, and allegedly failed to comply requirements set by the city government.

It led to the filing of criminal cases against the president of the mall’s developer Valerie Gaisano-Sebastian and officer-in-charge Edgardo Paquigan. – Rappler.com

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