PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday ordered a thorough investigation of the deadly fire that gutted a Davao City mall as news reports identified a 38th victim.
Workers at the burnt-out NCCC Mall found a body on Sunday and 36 more on Monday. Most of them worked for the Research Now SSI call center on the fourth floor of the building. On Tuesday, GMA News, quoting the Office of the Mayor, said a 38th victim was identified as Jimbo Limosnero.
Duterte, in a private meeting with the kin of the casualties at the Southern Philippines Medical Center, said he will form an inter-agency body to investigate the incident.
“What I assured them is that the truth will…come out…what really happened,” the President said.
“Now, I will assure you that I will call the investigators of NBI [National Bureau of Investigation], police, and Bureau of Fire [to take charge of the investigation],” he added, saying that the Scene of the Crime Operatives will also participate in the probe.
This is the second time the President met with the families of workers trapped inside the Davao shopping mall.
After the bodies were recovered, Duterte, himself a Davao native, advised families to cremate the bodies of victims.
“I told them: They’re already burnt. And even if you bring the cadaver back home, you won’t be able to open up the coffin for people to see the the dead,” he said.
“I suggested cremation. It’s the cleanest, most expedient way of doing things,” he added.
Duterte also said he offered what he called, “words of consolation, words of reality, religious words,” but acknowledged that these were not enough.
“I told them, at this time, death to me is a spiritual journey. So nobody can deal with it except… the mother, father, brother, sister,” he said.
He said he told them to pray and asked the priest for a short prayer “just to prepare them because there’s really no sense in overdoing things.”
Duterte, who reiterated the government’s commitment to help the bereaved families, and assured them of financial assistance.
The blaze, which started at the four-story NCCC Mall on Saturday morning sent thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky over Davao.
The inferno was finally brought under control early Sunday morning.