15 perish in QC fire
‘If it was inspected yearly, they could have discovered that the space behind the (admin) office was used as a garment shop,’ said one of the barangay officials who requested anonymity.
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Daily Tribune‘If it was inspected yearly, they could have discovered that the space behind the (admin) office was used as a garment shop,’ said one of the barangay officials who requested anonymity.
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Personnel of the Bureau of Fire and Quezon City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office recovered the bodies of at least 15 persons who died in a fire that broke out in a residential area on Gloria Avenue, Barangay Tandang Sora in Quezon City Thursday morning on 31 August 2023. (Photograph by Analy Labor for The Daily Tribune)
At least 15 people including a family of three with a three-year-old granddaughter perished in an early dawn fire that razed their garment shop in Pleasant View Subdivision, Tandang Sora, Quezon City on Thursday.
Police identified the fatalities as Michael Cavilte, 44, the shop owner, his wife Maria Micaela Barbin, 23, and their daughter Erica Scarlet.
The other victims were stay-in workers employed by Cavilte, namely: Wilmar Ritual, 25; Raffy Barrientos, 25; Julius Abarca, 20; Alfred Manuel, 23; Jayson Dominguez, 45, driver; Carmina Abalos, 22, quality checker; Teresa Cruz, 25, printing staff; a certain Miya, 20; Irene, 25; Clarise Encado, 25; Dianne Lopinal, 24, quality checker; and a certain Daisy, 30, stay-in helper.
All of them died of suffocation and were charred beyond recognition when the almost three-hour blaze gutted down the entire establishment.
The fire started at around 5:30 a.m., according to one of the two survivors, Eric John Cavilte, 25, who is the younger brother of the shop owner.
The other survivor was only identified as Francisco, 20, a shop helper.
The first alarm was raised at around 5:44 a.m.
According to the Bureau of Fire Protection, the printing and shirt shops were on the ground floor of the house. It was learned that the business was operating legally with the necessary permits.
Chief Superintendent Nahum Tarroza, fire marshal of the Bureau of Fire Protection National Capital Region, based on the initial report from a survivor, there were 18 people in the residential house.
A survivor jumped off through the second-floor window while the other one managed to run out of the burning house.
Tarroza said the firefighters took too long to arrive at the fire scene because they were given the wrong address and the floods in some areas.
The establishment owned by the Caviltes was said to have been issued a Fire Safety Inspection Certificate last year.
"If it was inspected yearly, they could have discovered that the space behind the (admin) office was used as a garment shop," said one of the barangay officials who requested anonymity.
It was surmised that the shop owners only declared the office space thus, no fire safety inspection was conducted. Records at the BFP NCR, however, showed 100 percent inspection.
Quezon City Fire Marshal Aristotle Bañaga has yet to respond to queries.
Meanwhile, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte immediately sent her sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims as she ordered a thorough investigation of whether the establishment adhered to the requirements of the Department of Building Official, Business Permit and Licensing Department, National Building Code, Fire Code of the Philippines, zoning ordinance, business permit, among others.
