After two years since the fire that gutted down the New City Commercial Center Mall Davao (NCCC Mall Davao leaving 38 people dead, the arraignment and pre-trial conference of a fire official who is facing charges for falsification of documents is finally set on March 2020.
The case reportedly dragged due to the voluminous documents and complex charges.
Senior Fire Official 2 (SFO2) Joel Quismundo of the Bureau of Fire Protection-Davao (BFP-Davao) is charged with violation of Republic Act 9514 or the Revised Fire Code of the Philippines of 2008.
Quismundo is charged for violation of paragraph 4 Article 171 of the Revised Penal Code for falsification of public documents and making untruthful statements in a narration of facts.
The case is filed at the Regional Trial Court -Branch 14 in Davao City.
Other fire officials with pending criminal cases are SF01 Roger Dumag, SF04 Dioscoro Baja Jr. and SF01 Leo Lauzon.
On December 23, 2017, a 32-hour blaze razed the popular NCCC Mall Davao that took the lives of 38 individuals mostly employees of Survey Sampling International (SSI), a BPO company.
Findings from the investigation of the Inter-agency Anti-Arson Task Force (IAATF) include irregular installation of electrical wirings during the renovation at the third floor, sprinkler system at the fourth floor occupied by SSI was not functional, absence of appropriate license of some workers performing electrical works and absence of building permit during renovation.
Other findings include insufficient means of egress for the fourth floor, and failure to notify nearest fire station when the fire alarm system and sprinkler systems were out of service for more than four hours.
Last year, the City Prosecutor’s Office in Davao City dismissed charges of reckless of imprudence filed by against the owners and executives of NCCC Mall Davao and SSI.
