Ex-QC engineers ‘guilty’ sa 2001 Manor Hotel fire

Sinentsayahan ng anim hanggang 10-taong pagkakakulong ng Sandiganbayan ang mga dating opisyal ng Quezon City engineering office kaugnay ng sunog sa Manor Hotel noong 2001.

Batay sa 121-pahinang desisyon ng 7th Division na may petsang March 29, guilty sa tatlong counts ng graft sina dating QC building official Alfredo Macapugay at electrical division chief Romeo Montallana.

Ito’y matapos mabatid na pinayagan ng mga ito ang hotel na makapag-operate kahit walang kaukulang permit.

Pinayagan din daw ng dalawa ang establisyemento na tumanggap ng mga guest sa kabila ng pagpapasara rito ng Bureau of Fire Protection dahil sa mga paglabag sa National Building Code at Fire Code of the Philippines.

Kung maaalala, hinatulan din ng guilty sa kasong graft noong 2014 si Macapugay kaugnay naman ng Ozone Disco tragedy noong 1997.

Bukod sa dalawang hinatulan, guilty rin sa tig-dalawang counts ng parehong kaso sina City Engineer V Romualdo Santos at Electrical Inspector Gerardo Villasenor; at mag-asawang may-ari ng hotel na sina William Genato at Rebecca Genato.

Maging ang hotel manager na si Candelaria Arandor; at incorporators na sina Marion Fernandez at Dionisio Arengino ay sinentsyahan din.

“To the mind of the Court, by being grossly and inexcusably negligent in the discharge of their official functions, Macapugay and Montallana gave unwarranted benefit, advantage, undue preference or favor to the QC Manor Hotel,” ayon sa korte.

“In 1999, the hotel could only be granted a provisional business permit, valid only until 30 June 1999 and conditioned upon compliance with certain requisites stated at the back portion of the permit, as well as the submission of its FSIC (Fire Safety Inspection Certificate), SP (Sanitary Permit) and by 30 June 1999.”

“The hotel did not comply with the above requisites, so it was effectively operating without a business permit during the second half of 1999; Worse, records show that the electrical inspection of the hotel has habitually been skipped since 1995; save for an electrical inspection in 1998 and in 2001, the year when the hotel caught fire.”

Itinuturing na isa sa pinaka-malagim na fire incident sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas ang sunog sa naturang hotel na nangyari noong August 18, 2001.