COA clears UP-PGH nurse of financial liability in 2021 fire
The Commission on Audit (COA) has cleared the head nurse of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) of financial liability over the loss of P60.2 million worth of hospital equipment and medical instruments in a fire in 2021, saying there was no negligence on her part.
In a decision dated April 29, 2025, that was released publicly this week, the COA en banc found no fault of property accountability on the part of Ma. Teresa Bascara, head nurse of the hospital’s operating room sterilization area (Orsa).
According to reports from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the fire gutted Orsa past midnight on May 16, 2021. The area located on the third floor of UP-PGH’s central block building contained hospital equipment and medical instruments.
An investigation conducted by the BFP showed that the fire was electrical and caused by the overheating of autoclave and sterilization machines and exhaust fans’ motor.
Accidental in nature
The bureau said the blaze was not intentionally set and “accidental in nature.”
Bascara was the listed accountable officer for the equipment and instruments lost in the fire. Nine days after the incident, she filed a request with the COA to seek relief from property.
State auditors agreed that while accountable officers are liable for the loss, damage or deterioration of government property, they may be cleared if proven that there is no fault or negligence on their part that may have contributed to the loss.
“Relatively, negligence is defined as the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided by those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or the doing of something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do,” the COA said.
In the case of Bascara, the COA said it found no fault or negligence that may be attributed to her for the loss of the hospital equipment and medical instruments, citing the BFP’s finding that the fire was accidental in nature.
Not foreseen
State auditors cited Article 1231 of the Civil Code, which lists one of the modes of extinguishment of obligation as “loss of the thing due,” while Article 1174 of the Civil Code provides that “no person shall be responsible for those events which could not be foreseen, or which, though foreseen, were inevitable.”
Among the 760 pieces of equipment and medical instruments lost in the fire were skin retractors, spray gun rinsers, wire trolley, air conditioner, approximator, sterilizers and pressure tanks.
The decision was signed by COA Chair Gamaliel Cordoba, and Commissioners Mario Lipana and Douglas Mallillin.
