2 construction workers hurt as call center structure collapses

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Two construction workers were injured when the flooring at the fourth level of a call center building under construction at the Asiatown IT Park in Barangay (Village) Lahug here collapsed Saturday night.

The two workers, both masons, were working on the fourth floor of the Aegis People Support’s extension building when the flooring they were standing on collapsed shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday.

Building manager Roger Aleria identified the two injured workers as Jonathan Juntillano and Billy Abarquez.

The third floor collapsed after mixed cement was added as flooring, said Senior Insp. Pablo Cabildo, chief of the Mabolo Police precinct that handled the investigation.

Aegis People Support president Bong Borja expressed his concern for the workers on Saturday in a telephone interview from his office in Metro Manila even if they were not employees of the call center and belonged to the building contractor. The company is the biggest and largest call center company in the Philippines.

Juntillano and Abarquez were taken immediately to Perpetual Succour Hospital for treatment but only Juntillano remained confined at the hospital as of Sunday.

Arquillano, 41, from Toledo City and a worker of DCD Construction Inc., the contractor of the building, suffered injury in the right leg but was already out of danger, said Cabildo.

Rescuers from Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council searched for other workers who might be trapped inside the collapsed area of the building but none was found when the search stopped early Sunday.

Cabildo said paramedics from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF) brought the injured workers to the hospital.

Investigators from Cebu City’s Office of the Building Officials (OBO) quickly conducted an investigation after the accident.

OBO chief Josefa Ylanan Sunday said she ordered the suspension of the construction work pending completion of the investigation that included looking at possible safety lapses in the construction work.

Ylanan said she was initially informed that the extension building was for a condominium owned by Aegis.

She said she would check if her office had issued the permit and if there was violation in the specifications stated in the building permit.

DCD Construction has sub-contracted to CSI to provide the mix cement, according to a CCDCC investigator who asked not to be named as he has no authority to speak on the matter.

The investigator said the second block of the building’s fourth floor collapsed totally. The beam and even its column were also brought down. Each of the building’s floors has four blocks.

Reporters were not allowed to get inside the damaged building. Other personnel inside the building refused to reveal information as only Borja could issue a statement.

Borja said they would let the investigators do their job of determining the cause of the accident. –Chito O. Aragon, Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas