By Charlie Lagasca (The Philippine Star) Updated December 24, 2010
BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Survivors in last Sunday’s hotel fire in Tuguegarao City that claimed the lives of 16 people, including 10 nursing graduates, have been undergoing stress debriefing to help them cope with the trauma that they might have suffered.
“The survivors should undergo psycho-social processing to help bring them back to their usual functioning from their (traumatic experience),” said Lucila Espersosa, chief nurse of the National Center for Mental Health, which is conducting the stress debriefing sessions.
As this developed, another fire hit a two-story house made of light materials in Tuguegarao early Wednesday morning.
The fire, blamed on an unattended lighted candle, lasted for only 15 minutes, thanks to the quick response of the city’s revamped Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), which earlier got flak for its delayed action on last Sunday’s fire at the five-story Bed and Breakfast Pension House.
Meanwhile, the family of one of the fatalities, 21-year-old Neil Jenzen Babaran Lopez, said it considering filing charges against the University of La Salette in Santiago City, Isabela, where the nursing graduates studied.
Lopez’s grandmother Nilda Babaran said in a radio interview that they would pursue legal action when her grandson’s mother arrives from Canada.
Babaran said the school is also liable for choosing the pension house for the accommodation of its nursing graduates taking the licensure examination last weekend.
Labor Undersecretary Danilo Cruz yesterday said the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) is studying the possibility of providing a special exam for the surviving nursing graduates who failed to take it as a result of the fire.
While the special test is still under study, Cruz said the PRC would definitely waive the exam fee for those who would like to retake the licensure test next year.
Also killed in the fire were six family members, including two grandchildren aged 12 and two of the Fedovilla family, which owns the pension house.
The panel probing the fire said it would ask the survivors to possibly provide additional inputs or insights that may be vital to determine the actual cause of the blaze and identify those possibly liable for the tragedy.
Upon orders of President Aquino, the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior and Local Government have formed a fact-finding body to investigate whether there were lapses or negligence on the part of the local BFP, the city government, the hotel owners or other parties that led to the deadly incident.
For his part, Tuguegarao City Mayor Delfin Ting asked the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Cagayan to conduct its own impartial investigation into the tragedy. – With Raymund Catindig, Mayen Jaymalin
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