Giving up on trapped workers

First responders navigate a labyrinth of mangled steel and pulverized concrete on Sunday, May 24, 2026, following the sudden collapse of an under-construction nine-story building in Barangay Balibago, Angeles City, Pampanga. The structure gave way around 2:00 a.m., leaving an estimated 30 to 40 workers unaccounted for, according to the project foreman. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

How can they just give up on those workers? Two days after a nine-story hotel being constructed in Brgy. Balibago, Angeles City Pampanga suddenly collapsed, authorities shifted from search and rescue of over a dozen workers trapped under tons of twisted steel, wiring, concrete slabs and scaffolding to retrieval and clearing after authorities claimed to detect no more signs of life.

Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin II directed retrieval teams working through the rubble to handle victims’ remains with “utmost respect and dignity” during recovery operations, as if that would be enough to assuage the anguish of family members who are clinging to hope that their loved ones are still alive.

With the decision to stop searching, the death toll in this preventable tragedy is likely to climb to 21, with as many as 17 believed to be still trapped following the structure’s collapse last Sunday.

The pain of victims’ families would only be magnified, however, if the unfortunate incident would eventually fade from the spotlight like other previous tragedies with burning questions left unanswered and nobody held to account.

Where are the supervisors, contractors, and the building owner who should have been right beside the grieving families? They should be dragged into the open to shed light on whether the structure was indeed built based on the right design and according to building standards.

Compliant on paper

A building permit had been secured in 2023, building plans had been approved and construction began in 2024. That the structure still collapsed despite having all the requirements supposedly complied with and cleared raises possibilities of negligence and outright violations of building standards.

“Everything was compliant on paper. That is exactly why we need a full probe—to find out why it still failed,” Lazatin added, “We will check if standards were skipped, materials were substandard, or soil tests were insufficient. Every detail will be examined to know the truth.”

Lazatin himself pointed to substandard materials, poor workmanship, or weak soil foundation as possible reasons behind the collapse.

The contractor identified as Malabon-based Golden Years Construction and Steelworks should be held accountable as well following revelations that the Central Luzon office of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) had issued a work stoppage order back in September 2025 for “multiple” safety violations and failure to provide workers with mandatory benefits.

Newly appointed Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino has suspended Dole Regional Director Geraldine Panlilio for a month to pave the way for its investigation.

Uncomfortable truth

The incident also laid bare the uncomfortable truth that having a building permit does not necessarily guarantee that structures are sound, considering that the approving offices do not necessarily possess the technical qualifications to determine if the construction plans do conform with the building code.

The approval process should thus also be subjected to review to ensure that the approving offices are not reduced to mere rubber stamps.

For Surigao del Sur 1st District Rep. Romeo Momo Sr., the tragedy also underscores the urgency of passing a new Philippine Building Act to replace the almost 50-year old National Building Code of the Philippines, as the current standards embodied in the framework that sets the minimum standards and requirements for building projects to ensure public health and safety may already be obsolete.

Construction techniques have evolved and structures are subjected to more severe stresses such as more frequent and stronger typhoons as well as earthquakes.

Momo said failure to update the code would mean that the Philippines will “continue to be at the mercy of dilapidated, substandard and unchecked buildings.”

Immediate task at hand

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon already recognized the urgent need to update the code given the country’s desire to ramp up spending on infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, and airports that all require complex building techniques thus should be up to the highest standards.

But even as efforts are devoted to the bigger issue of the building code, authorities should not be distracted from the immediate task at hand, which is to complete the retrieval of the innocent workers who had perished under the rubble.

Several investigations are expected, including at the Senate after Sen. Francis Pangilinan filed a resolution calling for an investigation into the tragedy. “We owe it to the victims to reveal the truth about this incident and to create laws and policies to prevent such tragedies from happening in the future,” he said.

To put an end to speculations and distractions, the government must follow through on its promise to conduct and complete a comprehensive, independent, sober and rigorous investigation to determine who and what exactly is to blame for this tragedy that should not be allowed to happen again.