BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – A probe team yesterday filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple injuries before the city prosecutor’s office against the owners of a garment store whose 17 stay-in female workers were killed in a fire here last May 9.
Lawyer Galeon Macasinag, chief of the investigation and intelligence division of the Bureau of Fire Protection central office and head of the five-man probe team, told The STAR that they met the deadline set by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo for the filing of criminal charges against the owners of Novo Jeans and Shirts Enterprises.
In a press briefing here last Saturday, Robredo assured the victims’ families and the three survivors that “heads will roll and somebody has to answer for the tragic demise of the 17 young women workers.”
Fire Senior Inspector Romeo Pepito, assistant leader of the probe team, said they found the owners of Novo liable for the death of their employees, but not the owners of the building where the store was just renting space.