Burnt mall to let tenants in, but …

FED UP with the accusation that its members were hiding something from the public in connection with their investigation into the 82-hour-long fire that hit Ever Gotesco Grand Central Mall, the head of the Interagency Task Force announced on Tuesday that he would allow store owners and other people inside the establishment but only on certain conditions.

“This is in the spirit of transparency … so the tenants can see that the inside of the building is really 80 to 90 percent destroyed,” said Senior Supt. Fennimore Jaudian of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

According to him, most of the tenants of the mall in Caloocan City were angry with fire officials because they believed that some of their merchandise could still be saved.

Jaudian, however, said that those who want to go inside the establishment—which may start on Thursday pending a go-signal from the mall management—should write to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.

The letters would then be forwarded to the mall management which would be in charge of confirming whether or not the signatory was a tenant.

Jaudian said that he would also go through the requests to make sure that none of the letter senders seek permission to pull out their merchandise from the building.

In a related development, Supt. Oscar de Asis, the Caloocan City fire marshal, remains at his post despite reports that he had been sacked.

Insp. Francisco Sergio, chief of the administration unit, said that although his office received Wednesday morning a copy of the BFP order signed by BFP deputy chief for operations Ruben Pearis announcing the appointment of Supt. Roel Jeremy Diaz as De Asis’ replacement, the appointment had yet to be confirmed by Robredo.