Pampanga, Philippines – Families of the victims of the building collapse at Angeles, Pampanga cried for justice and demanded accountability, as more than a dozen remain missing two days after the tragedy .
Authorities shifted to retrieval operations on Tuesday, May 26 after two days of rescue efforts, with at least 16 people feared dead from the rubble.
In an interview, Novy Batar, wife of a construction worker who has yet to be recovered from the site, said the engineer of the nine-story building should be held liable.
Jay Pelayo, city information officer of Angeles, Pampanga, earlier told NewsWatch Plus the site engineer coordinated with authorities to provide a list of workers in the area.
Batar said it has only been three weeks since her husband, Emmanuel Marcos, began working on the project because of the foreman’s recommendation.
“Marami siyang taong pinatay, dapat managot sya. Sana mabigyan ng hustisya ang mga namatay na hanggang ngayon hindi pa nahuhukay,” she told reporters.
[Translation: The engineer killed a lot of people and has to be accountable. I hope justice is served for those who died, whom until now have yet to be recovered.]
Meanwhile, Evelyn Alikaway, daughter of another construction worker who was confirmed dead, slammed the owners and contractors of the building.
The local government said as of Tuesday morning, the owner and contractor have yet to surface and explain their side. Pelayo previously said only the friend of the owner has reached out to authorities.
“Sana magkaroon ng kahit kaunting konsensiya kasi tatay ko po iyon, masyadong malaking kawalan po iyon sa amin e lalo po sa mga kapatid ko,” Evelyn said.
[Translation: I hope they have some conscience for my father. He’s a big loss to us, especially to my siblings.]
Pelayo said investigations remain ongoing to determine liability on the tragedy, including legal actions against those who would be found accountable on what happened.
“We did our best”
Leah Sajili, information officer of the regional Bureau of Fire Protection, said rescue efforts were terminated as responders have not detected any signs of life when they searched through the area on Monday afternoon onwards.
She said all efforts were exhausted, including the deployment of K-9 dogs, thermal scanners, and other life detector devices.
“We did our best to save their lives. Ganun po talaga, we have to move on and move forward para sa naiwan nila at ibigay yung dapat maibigay na tulong sa kanila,” she said, in response to insinuations that responders were too slow in rescuing victims.
[Translation: We did our best to save their lives. Thats it. We have to move on and move forward for their loved ones so we can help them accordingly.]
Sajili said authorities cannot provide a timeline yet for the retrieval and clearing operations.
She, however, assured the public that responders intend to pull out the victims from the rubble immediately to avoid deterioration of the bodies and be turned over to their families.
