The concrete post that fell, killing a 13-year-old boy in barangay Tinago, Cebu City on Tuesday night, is owned by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT).
Dangling wires got snagged by a passing truck, pulling the post down but no utility firm is claiming responsibility for the loosend wires or the accident.
Bong Lintag, assistant vice president and PLDT Cebu business zone head, said the unidentified driver of the passing was the “real culprit.”
The boy, Ralph Bureros, died while two 13-year-old girls were injured when the concrete post fell on them at a barbecue station in McArthur Boulevard past 9:30 p.m.last Tuesday.
BACKSTORY: Veco electric pole falls, kills Tejero boy
VECO AND PLDT POST COLLAPSE/JULY 08,2015:Cameraman of take photage of the post that collapse that killed a 13 year old boy and injured two others in Mc Arthur blvrd.(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
The video footage, however, did not show the speeding truck’s plate number. The driver has not been found.
Hanging around 14 feet off the ground, the dangling wires were a combination of lines owned by PLDT, Globe, Sky Cable, and the Visayan Electric Company (Veco).
Lintag, in an interview with Cebu Daily News, said that any of these companies could have responded to complaints made by barangay officials to address loosened wires attached to the posts.
“They probably called up all the wire owners but it was Veco that responded,” he said.
Veco, through its contractor ROSCH, sent two personnel to check on the wires. However, the two employees backed out because they said the wires did not include any owned by Veco.
Lintag said that if barangay officials contacted PLDT sooner, the dangling wires would have been addressed and the accident could have been prevented.
PLDT and the other utilities responded the night of the accident, but only after Ralph was declared dead.
Lintag said the wires may have been loosened by another vehicle earlier, making it easier for the truck to snag the cables and pull the post downward.
“Our facilities, as well as those owned by other utilities, are standard. It just so happened that there are third parties, like the driver, which may cause this kind of incident,” said Lintag.
Lintag said PLDT maintenance personnel go around different areas each day so they could not have missed the dangling wires in barangay Tinago.
Barangay Tinago captain Joel Garganera earlier lamented that the boy’s death could have been prevented if prompt action had been taken on the dangling wires.
He said the barangay called Veco about the wires, prompting two personnel of Veco’s contractor to show up that evening, only to back off, saying the post and lines did not belong to the electric power distributor.
The accident happened shortly after the refusal.
A video of the collapse was recorded by the CCTV camera of a nearby establishment and posted online.
Until yesterday, the subject of who owned the fallen post are was a topic for debate.
While Lintag confirmed that PLDT owns the post, he said the structure is covered by a bilateral joint ownership agreement.
He said utility companies whose cables are attached to the post automatically become co-owners.
“In the case of Veco, if there are cables attached to our posts, then these automatically become Veco’s, too. This is also the case if our cables are attached to those owned by Veco,” said Lintag.
Veco was earlier identified in a CDN report as the owner of the concrete post.
However, Veco denied this and explained that their electric posts are identified with numbers but the fallen post had none.
After an investigation on the snagged wires by PLDT, it was found out that among these were Veco-owned fiber optics cables.
Veco, in a press conference, yesterday stressed that the utility was not at fault.
Lawyer Jill Verallo, Veco reputations enhancement department head, said that based on the company’s standard operating procedures, maintenance personnel cannot touch cables that aren’t theirs.
“We cannot just tinker with another company’s cables. If we touch them without their permission, then we will be held liable for whatever happens to it,” Verallo said.
She said Veco is looking at ways to improve coordination with other utilities and looks forward to meeting other companies as partners.
At present, there is no agreement among utilities about sharing information or a referral system when concerns arise about facilities that don’t belong to them.
“Never has it happened that if something goes wrong with their facilities, we respond. Normally, we only respond to those that affect our own,” said Verallo.
Veco signified its desire to help the families of the child victims but Verallo said this was humanitarian assistance and not an admission of fault.
She reminded other utilities to observe proper maintenance of posts and wires, and urged them to bring their cables underground, just like what Veco has done with its overhead wires along Osmeña Boulevard last year.
Lintag of PLDT, meanwhile, said PLDT will be extending financial assistance to the victims’families for the girls’ hospital bills, as well as for Ralph’s funeral and burial expenses.
Learning from the event, Lintag said that he will remind PLDT’s contractors to respond to concerns regarding utility posts, even if these don’t belong to PLDT.
“If anyone asks for help, even if the poles aren’t ours, there should still be a response. Even if it’s out of our contractors’ own volition,” he said.
He said there have been instances when PLDT coordinated with Globe, a major competitor, in addressing dangling wires attached to some of its posts.