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MANILA, May 22, 2025 (SDN) — Is it a sign of bad omen of things to come?
Bad luck hit today, Thursday, the construction of Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto’s pet undertaking, the highly controversial new Pasig City Hall Campus (PCHC) construction project with a massive tag price of Php9.2 billion.
The Eastern Police District (EPD) released to members of media a sketchy report about the tragedy, saying a vehicular accident hit PCHC’s construction area at around 1:30 p.m. along the city’s Caruncho Avenue, Barangay San Nicolas, that resulted in the death of 15 years old Charles Reyes Balangui, who hailed from Molave, Nagpayong, Barangay Pinagbuhatan, Pasig.
In the report of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Pasig City said the victim, who is a Grade 5 minor, was asleep when he was ran over by a PCHC dump truck — Plate No. NBF 5898 — driven by his own father, Richard Contratista Balangui, 43 years old, of Pulang Lupa, Valenzuela City, but a resident of Delmundo, Barangay Ugong, Pasig.
The investigators of the PNP-EPD in their initial investigation revealed that the teener’s father was driving the dump truck before 2 p.m. Thursday inside the PCHC construction site where the old City Hall Building is being demolished when he felt his rear tire hit something.
Richard Balangui got down from the dump truck to look at what happened.
“To his very surprise,” the police probers’ report said, what he saw was his son, bloodied, as he was the one that his dump truck’s rear tire rolled over.
“Afterwards, he sought the assistance of his co-worker who relayed the incident to the STOC of this station wherein Police Corporal Danga and Patrolman Sasotana responded,” the police report narrated.
The Pasig Emergency United (PEU) also came to the accident’s site with Dr. Bernard John San Marcos declaring the minor victim dead at around 2:15 p.m., the PNP-EPD said.
Pasig LGU requires PCHCC on mandatory review of safety measures
Subsequently, the police arrested Richard Balangui as they informed him of the nature of his offense “an apprised him of his constitutional rights in a language known and understood by him.” The suspect is under investigation.
Police Staff Sgt. Benedict Legarto filed the report and reviewed by the duty officer of the day, Police Lt. Al A. Alvarez / Duty STOC Police Staff Sgt. Fernan D. Balita.
In relation with the tragic incident at the PCHC construction site, the Pasig local government unit (LGU) issued a statement saying it “immediately deployed emergency personnel to the site and will provide support to the victim’s family. ”
The Pasig government also pointed out the close coordination between the city’s PNP station and the Pasig City Hall Construction Consortium (PCHCC) as the former “is currently conducting an investigation on the incident. The City Government has likewise extended assistance to the ongoing investigation.”
On the other hand, the Pasig LGU assured that it will require the PCHCC to conduct a “mandatory review of the existing safety measures…to ensure that an incident like this will not happen again” and that incident is being taken seriously with safety within the construction site at the top of priority.
Earlier, the PCHC project was estimated to cost Php9.6 billion but the amount went down slightly to Php9.2 billion after the bidding won by the consortium now undertaking the leviathan project with multiple and multi-use complex buildings that Sotto said was designed to last for 100 years.
His “100 years” projection of the longevity of his new City Hall project seems to run counter to commonly acknowledged practice by the construction industry that buildings from 50 years old are already subject for demolition.
One of the harshest critics of Sotto’s pet project is contractor and builder engineer Selwin Lao, president of the Wing-an Construction and Development Corporation based in Barangay Bambang, Pasig City.
He had been challenging the mayor who is soon to serve his third and final term after winning in the midterm elections on May 12 to let him go over the cost of the PCHC to prove that it is allegedly overpriced.
Apparently, a result of Lao’s repeated criticism of Sotto’s new City Hall project was an invitation extended by City Administrator James Manzanero for an on-site tour on May 14 of the construction site.
With the apparent bad luck that hit the mayor’s PCHC project, Lao may not be far behind, especially that authorities are reportedly inclined to digging up whether the teen victim was working in the construction project which is a definite no-no for minors, against the law, and whether there was negligence on either the father or the consortium — PCHCC — undertaking the construction of the new City Hall complex.
Another contractor who asked not to be named suggested that a massive construction project like the PCHC would require to have nine safety officers working round the clock. — EDD K. USMAN (√)