MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Wednesday said he will ask the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue a hold departure order (HDO) against Ernest Jackson Lim, the owner of the collapsed building in Angeles City, and its contractor, Joel Young.
Remulla said Lim and Young have yet to surface or coordinate with authorities as investigation and search, retrieval, and rescue operations continue.
“No one is qualified yet to give a fault-finding report. We are after the facts,” Remulla said, stressing that responsibility cannot yet be assigned while structural assessments are ongoing.
He said engineers will be deployed to examine the debris and determine the cause of the collapse, while reports from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), local government units, and the Philippine National Police (PNP) are being consolidated.
Remulla said that the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) will summon the contractor and property owner, citing possible criminal negligence over reports that workers were allegedly allowed to stay or sleep inside the construction site.
The collapsed structure, a multi-story condo-hotel project reportedly intended for mixed commercial use, was under construction near the Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles City, a key tourism and business area in Pampanga.
Authorities said the structure had previously been issued a temporary work stoppage order by labor regulators over safety compliance concerns, which was later lifted after the reported rectification of violations.