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Ex-city engineer, 9 others convicted over 2001 Manor Hotel fire

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Adrian Ayalin, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Former city engineer Alfredo Macapugay and electrical division chief Romeo Montallana of the Quezon City engineering office were convicted by the Sandiganbayan 7th Division of 3 counts of graft and sentenced to imprisonment of 6 to 10 years for each count for the deadly Manor Hotel fire in 2001.In the decision of the anti-graft court promulgated on March 29, 2019, engineer Romualdo Santos, inspector Gerardo Villasenor, inspector Rodel Mesa; Manor Hotel owners or incorporators William Genato, Rebecca Genato, Marion Fernandez and Dionisio Agengino; and hotel manager Candelara Arañador were also found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.The court stressed in its decision that the hotel was operating despite various structural and safety violations from 1999 until the fire happened on the night of August 18, 2001, killing 74 people and injuring several others.&quot;To the court, it is the unjustifiable inaction on the part of accused public officials that showed their manifest partiality towards Manor Hotel. It is also concrete proof that they were grossly and inexcusably negligent in the discharge of their functions,” the court said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Zaldy Tespeses, with the concurrence of Division Chairperson Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta and Associate Justice Georgina Hidalgo.The convicted former public officials were also sentenced to perpetual disqualification from public office as well as loss of retirement benefits.Hotel co-owner Antonio Beltran remains at large and is now a subject of an alias warrant of arrest while co-owner Porfirio Germina died before the decision was rendered resulting in the dismissal of his case. Among those noted by the court in its decision are the very limited electrical supply of the hotel compared to its needs, lack of smoke detection and water sprinkling system, lack of fire alarm system which could have roused the hotel guests who died in their sleep, lack of fire drills for the employees, inaccessible fire exits and the installation of iron grills which trapped the fleeing guests inside the burning building. “The Manor Hotel fire is yet another sobering reminder to public officials on the costly consequence of not faithfully abiding by their sworn duties and responsibilities. It was a terrible disaster that could and should have been avoided had local public officers been serious and diligent in implementing existing safety and regulatory laws such as the National Building Code,” the court said.Macapugay was also convicted in 2014, also as former city engineer when the Ozone Disco fire happened in 1996.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/metro-manila/11/20/14/sandigan-convicts-ex-qc-officials-ozone-disco-fire">Sandigan convicts ex-QC officials for Ozone disco fire</a></li></ul>

MANILA - Former city engineer Alfredo Macapugay and electrical division chief Romeo Montallana of the Quezon City engineering office were convicted by the Sandiganbayan 7th Division of 3 counts of graft and sentenced to imprisonment of 6 to 10 years for each count for the deadly Manor Hotel fire in 2001.

MANILA - Former city engineer Alfredo Macapugay and electrical division chief Romeo Montallana of the Quezon City engineering office were convicted by the Sandiganbayan 7th Division of 3 counts of graft and sentenced to imprisonment of 6 to 10 years for each count for the deadly Manor Hotel fire in 2001.

Ex-city engineer, 9 others convicted over 2001 Manor Hotel fire

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Ex-city engineer, 9 others convicted over 2001 Manor Hotel fire

Adrian Ayalin,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 01, 2019 04:11 PM PHT

|

Updated April 01, 2019 04:12 PM PHT

Read More:

Quezon City

Manor Hotel

Sandiganbayan

graft

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