DOJ presses homicide raps

Executives of ABS-CBN, producers of the popular game show "Wowowee" as well as its host, Willie Revillame, face possible criminal liability for the weekend stampede that left 74 fans dead, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said yesterday.

Gonzalez said charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide may be filed against them for the Saturday tragedy, even as an initial investigation into the incident concludes today.

Interior Undersecretary Marius Corpus, head of a task force probing the incident, said "there were (security) lapses. The things that should have been done were not done."

"At the outset, you’d think first of the organizers. Who were the ones who organized and who had control over the show? If they are the proximate cause, they should be held liable," Gonzalez said.

He said "Wowowee" organizers could not shrug off their responsibility for the incident by saying the crowd was larger and more unruly than they had expected.

"That is not an excuse because ABS-CBN assumed the responsibility of the crowd control within the perimeter given to them in the permit issued by the local government," he said.

"You can say 500 or 5,000 people will be attending. You have to consider the capacity of the venue. ABS-CBN should have anticipated the humongous crowd. They had been planning this event for one week or so," Gonzales said.

Even Revillame could be held liable for the crowd’s behavior if it was true that he had earlier announced that huge prizes such as P1 million, a house and lot and a jeepney awaited lucky contestants to encourage a huge turnout for the show’s first anniversary.

"The gathering itself is the proximate cause. It is there where negligence of the organizers would come in, which progressed into the occurrence of the stampede," Gonzalez added.

Organizers of the show and even Philsports Arena’s management failed to prepare sufficient security, Gonzalez said, even though they were allegedly forewarned that there might be a larger-than-expected audience turnout.

Gonzalez, however, said he would await the results of the probe ordered by President Arroyo which is expected to be completed today.

Gonzalez would not say if ABS-CBN personnel would be held responsible but said the government might file a class action suit against the organizers. "I think we have a strong enough case. Death is proof of liability."

"Whether it was criminal, it is up to Department of Justice (to decide) because under the law, lack of foresight can be criminal," Corpus said.

He said his team of investigators, dubbed Task Force Ultra, found there had been "no coordination with police in the field, no integrated security plan... no contingency plan to deal with every eventuality."

"They (ABS-CBN) said they had a security plan but they don’t have documents to show it, which means there was no plan at all," Corpus said. "It’s important to have a written contingency plan, so you will know how the police or other agencies will respond in a worst-case scenario."

Panel member Franklin Castillo, of the Office of Civil Defense, said ABS-CBN security chief Rene Luspo "assumed the police would be around."

"That is not how you plan security. You have to have it in black-and-white to define a security plan and crowd control measures to ensure smooth proceedings," Castillo told The STAR. "Crowd control and other measures like traffic should be properly defined."

"Wowowee" organizers "should have come up with a strategy to ask people to leave the area," Corpus said.

"You can’t just tell them, ‘Hey, go home. There’s no more room for you.’ Those who had been lining up for days would really get angry."

Corpus’ team is putting together all the findings submitted by other government and law enforcement agencies to get a complete picture of the incident.

"From there we will be able to formulate remedial measures and guidelines in order to prevent the occurrence of similar events in the future," he said.

Several survivors pointed to a still unidentified male staffer of the show as the cause of the stampede.

According to them, the crowd became agitated when the staffer announced through the public address system that only the first 300 to enter would be given raffle tickets and those further in the back of the line could no longer get inside to watch the show.

"He asked those who were not standing in line in the stadium’s covered walk to go home. So they became unruly and started pushing their way," said one survivor.

Reports reaching investigators have it that the staffer ran for safety after realizing he had caused a stampede. The survivors said they could identify the staffer.

Mad rush

Despite the inquiry’s focus on security for the event, the behavior of the large crowd also seemed to be a factor.

"I was screaming for help as I felt feet on my face, on my body and everywhere," Neneng Almonicar said from her hospital bed.

"People kept on pushing forward, ignoring those who fell and got stepped on. There was a mad rush for the tickets. They didn’t care if people were hurt and dying as long as they could get in."

Metro Manila police chief Director Vidal Querol, who arrived at the scene during the stampede, said he was dumbstruck by the crowd’s behavior. "There were dead people in front of them and still they tried to get inside."

Querol said he told people in the rear of the mob to stop moving forward. "When I asked them to go home or not to go in anymore, they shouted back, ‘No, we have tickets. We’re not going home.’"

An autopsy of 28 bodies — most of them women — by the National Bureau of Investigation found that 10 died from a broken spinal column. Eight died from asphyxia or suffocation, eight from a heart attack and two from multiple injuries.

The Senate is set to conduct its own investigation. Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has made a resolution urging the legislature to conduct an inquiry to find out if the penal code needs amending to add stiffer penalties for tragedies caused by negligence.

Under the law, the maximum criminal penalty for reckless imprudence is imprisonment for four years and two months while the civil penalty is merely P50,000 for death indemnity for loss of earning capacity and other compensatory damages, exemplary damages and attorneys’ fees.

The Revised Penal Code defines reckless imprudence as "voluntarily, but not without malice, failing to do an act from which material damage results by reason of inexcusable lack of precaution on the part of the person failing to perform such act, taking into consideration his employment or occupation, degree of intelligence, physical condition and other circumstances regarding persons, time and place." — With Mayen Jaymalin, Non Alquitran, Evelyn Macairan, Marvin Sy, Sheila Crisostomo, AFP