ILOILO City – The portion of the Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. Avenue service road near a building under construction in Barangay Bolilao, Mandurriao district has been closed, a city hall official said.
This was after a glass panel fell off the building and crashed on two vehicles passing by below on Saturday.
Public Safety and Transportation Management Office head Jeck Conlu told Panay News they were “forced” to close the service road.
Conlu said the service road will be off-limits “until such time nga mapasiguro na nga safe na dira [nga area].”
But a Panay News staffer who went to the area said the portion of the service road supposed to be closed off to the public remained open as of 3 p.m. on Sunday.
At around 2 p.m. on Saturday the two cars were negotiating the service road when their windshields were hit by the glass panels.
The drivers – Gabriel Lorenzo, 20, of Ledesco Village, La Paz district and Vincent Perosia, 44, of Oton, Iloilo – were unhurt, said Chief Inspector Juvy Navales, Mandurriao police chief.
The incident followed another accident two Saturdays ago – the right foot of a 16-year-old boy got dismembered after a construction equipment fell on him down the same building.
“This is negligence,” Navales said of the latest incident, stressing that the contractor and the building owner “should do something to ensure public safety.”
After the incident involving the teenaged “barker,” Conlu recommended to Mayor Jose Espinosa III to issue a work stoppage order on the construction work at the building, which was right next to the Injap Tower.
The PSTMO chief said he stands firm on his recommendation and will remind Espinosa about it on Monday. Public safety is nonnegotiable, he stressed.
“Indi ko pwede ibutang sa risgo ang motorists kag mga pumuloyo nga naga-agi dira,” said Conlu./PN
