Class suit vs Pasay concert organizers eyed

The families of the five drug- induced victims who died during the Forever Summer concert in Pasay City last month are mulling filing a class suit against the party organizers.

Bianca Fontejon’s parents, Edison and Bibiane, showed up at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday to give a statement on the death of their daughter.

Earlier reports said Fontejon, 18, was seen drinking water from a bottle that had been passed around by unidentified people during the concert.

The NBI’s medico legal division said Fontejon and another victim, Lance Garcia, 36, died of “massive heart attacks.”

The other fatalities were Ariel Leal, 22; Ken Migawa, 18, and Eric Anthony Miller, 33, an American.

Ariel Radovan, lawyer for the Fontejons, said his clients are considering filing a complaint for negligence against the organizers of the event.

The families of the other victims are expected to give their statements to the NBI within the week, according to Radovan.

“No one can shed light on what happened during the party except the event organizers,” Radovan said.

“We want to find out if there were security lapses. Had the organizers implemented strict security measures, drugs could not have been passed around during the concert,” he added.

Fontejon’s mother confirmed the NBI report that her daughter died of “massive heart failure.”

“But we did not expect our daughter to die that way because she never had any history of heart attack,” Bibiane said.

Autopsy results conducted on Fontejon showed that she consumed two synthetic substances – methylene homolog and methyldioxycathinone.

NBI doctors said the first substance is not fit for human consumption. The other drug can make a person psychotic and violent.

According to her parents, Fontejon was a dean’s lister at the De La Salle Zobel.

“Bianca was a varsity player when she was in high school. She has been playing badminton,” her father said.

Edison said his daughter planned to join the college varsity team and wanted to become a lawyer.

“What we know is that they only drank water given to holders of VIP tickets for free,” Bibiane said.

According to Fontejon’s boyfriend, who was with her during the concert along with 10 other friends, they had no idea that illegal drugs were passed around at the party.

The bottled water might have come from one of the handlers of the concert, a source told The STAR.

Fontejon’s boyfriend said she went to the portalet and collapsed at around 11 p.m. on May 22.

House probe

Meanwhile, officials of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said the fatalities took the illegal substances prior to the concert.

Senior Superintendent Manuel Lukban, who heads the NCRPO’s Regional Intelligence Division, told a congressional inquiry that based on their investigation, the five victims took Ecstasy and other party drugs before going to the concert at the SM Mall of Asia grounds.

“Based on the information that we got, the victims took the fatal substances before they entered the concert grounds. It’s only incidental that they went to the party in the series of selling Ecstasy,” Lukban said.

“There is rampant selling of these drugs on social media so we urge the parents to monitor their children while using the Internet,” he added.

The House committees on youth and sports development, Metro Manila development and dangerous drugs conducted an inquiry into the deaths of the five concertgoers.

Lukban said NCRPO operatives were only allowed in the venue when the concert was ongoing.

Representatives Winston Castelo of Quezon City and Romero Quimbo of Marikina chided organizers of the rave party – Unilever, maker of CloseUp – for not doing enough to stop drug use at concerts.

Quimbo expressed suspicion that CloseUp officials were aware of rampant drug use in their concerts.

“Why does a toothpaste company spend lots of money for parties that do not promote clean teeth? Why not for activities that help the environment or benefit the greater part of the population?” Quimbo said.

“We all know that these parties attract drinking and drugs,” he said, noting that Unilever had staged three similar concerts in the past.