3 men injured in construction fall

Three construction workers were hurt after they fell from a mall that is under construction on N. Bacalso Ave. in Barangay Pahina-Central, Cebu City yesterday.

SPO1 Winston Ybañez of the Homicide Section identified the wounded as Ricky Catubig, 26, from Mabolo; Noel Montaño, 32, from Madredijos, Bantayan Island; and Apolonio Pardillo, 22, from Toledo City.

“They said that they were fixing a steel bar for the beam on the second floor and they were on a scaffolding. The scaffolding suddenly gave out and that led to their fall,” Ybañez said.

Ybañez, the homicide investigator, noted that the three were not wearing hard hats, boots or harnesses.

“They said their site engineer supervisor was on an outing. No one was there to supervise them otherwise they might have been reprimanded for not wearing the basic safety gear. Even the other workers weren’t wearing any helmets,” Ybañez said in Cebuano.

He said the three fell 12 meters to the ground at 4:39 p.m.

“Two managed to hold on to some steel cables while the other fell directly on a cemented area,” he said.

Nagiel Bañacia, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office chief, said Catubig suffered lacerations and is experiencing severe pain in his pelvic region, while Paradillo and Montanio sustained minor injuries.

They were rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center. Their condition is stable.

Cebu City Building Official Engineer Josefa Ylanan said she will send inspectors on Monday to check the site.

She said the contractor will have to submit an incident report.

“They already have a building permit, so what we’re going to look into is if they have committed any violations. If our inspectors will find any deviations from the building permit, then we will have to stop all ongoing work in the site,” she said. /