Building façade falls, kills 2 vendors

MANILA, Philippines - Two vendors were killed when a portion of a building’s façade fell on them in Paco, Manila yesterday morning.

The RAC building at the corner of Pedro Gil and Paz streets is a five-story structure owned by Racquel Ang Quilantang. Its first two floors are occupied by a fastfood restaurant, the third floor is for offices while the fourth and fifth floors are for residential use.

The vendors – Simplicia Sister, 58; and Delia Babon, 42 – had come from the restaurant’s restroom and were about to go back to their stalls when a portion of the façade that was “as big as a kariton (pushcart)” fell on them at around 7:20 a.m.

Babon died on the spot while Sister was declared dead on arrival at the Ospital ng Maynila.

The chunk of concrete that fell came from the fifth floor, said Barangay 681 Zone 74 chairman Leody Manuel. He said he was a few meters away from the building, inspecting the stalls of street vendors when he heard people shouting and screaming as they rushed out of the building.

When he ran to the area, Manuel said he saw the bodies of the two women, their faces and upper bodies covered by the chunk of cement. Babon’s head and arms were crushed, he said.

“There was blood everywhere. There are no words to describe it… You’ll ask yourself, why did this happen to these poor vendors?” Manuel said, his voice cracking.

The police officers, who were a block away, rushed to the scene. They called the local rescue team, the Philippine Red Cross and investigators from the Manila Police District.

Thinking the victims were dead, Manuel called two priests from a nearby Catholic school to bless their bodies. When the priests arrived, one of them noticed that Sister was still alive.

Rescue workers brought her to the Ospital ng Maynila, but she was dead upon arriving at the hospital.

The first three floors of RAC building, meanwhile, were temporarily closed. Manuel said the floors will not be opened to the public until there is clearance from the city government’s engineering department. He said they want to find out how and why that portion of the fifth floor collapsed.

He added that depending on the victims’ families, the owners of RAC building can be held criminally liable for negligence.