BY GERARD NAVAL and VICTOR REYES
ONE person died while at least 50 others were injured after the balcony of the St. Peter the Apostle Parish Church in San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan collapsed yesterday morning during the Ash Wednesday Mass.
Malolos Bishop Dennis Villarojo said based on initial information, the balcony collapsed likely due to overloading.
“Unfortunately, there are many people there and that was the reason that it collapsed. The weight was probably too much for the structure,” he said.
The Bulacan provincial police office said initial findings of investigators suggest “structural failure as the likely culprit.”
Villarojo, on the number of injured, said “more than 50 people sustained injuries.
San Jose del Monte City Rep. Florida Robes gave a higher figure of injured churchgoers, at 63. The PNP also said 63 were injured, based on a report reaching Camp Crame.
The fatality is an 80-year-old female, said PNP spokeswoman Col. Jean Fajardo, citing the report.
Villarojo said the injured were brought to hospitals and are being monitored by the parish and the Diocese of Malolos. Assisting them and their families are parish priest Fr. Romulo Perez and his parochial vicar, Fr. Divino Cayanan.
Villarojo also said the parish church has been ordered closed until further notice.
“I have also instructed all parish priests to check their parish structures considering the great number of faithful coming every year to Lenten celebrations,” he said.
He added the parish church is coordinating with local government authorities who are investigating the incident.
In the meantime, the bishop called on the faithful to pray for the well-being of the victims of the tragedy.
“We pray for the eternal repose of the faithful departed and we offer our sincere condolences and assurance of assistance to the family,” he also said.
Robes, in a briefing, said the incident also caused a stampede.
Police said the incident occurred at around 7:30 a.m. at the St. Peter Apostle Parish Church in Barangay Tungkol Mangga.
Gina Ayson, chief of the city’s risk reduction and management office, said a portion of the church’s second floor was made of wood. She said there were many people in the area at that time of the accident.
Before Fajardo and Robes announced the lone fatality, Ayson told a radio interview 34 were injured and said their injuries were minor, mostly bruises. Some, she said, complained of shoulder pain.
Ayson said city Mayor Arthur Robes ordered the closure of the church which will be subjected to inspection.
Ayson said the church is old but and has been renovated.
Fajardo said, “That’s one of the possible causes of the collapse — the church is already old.”
