The family of a victim in the Pasay City concert last month is determined to pursue filing a case of criminal negligence against its organizers.
“Dapat mapanagot lahat ng accountable. Ayaw naming mangyari ito sa iba lalo na sa bata,” Bibiane Fontejon, mother of Bianca Fontejon, 18, said as she appeared before National Bureau of Investigation-Death Investigation Division chief lawyer Daniel Lalusis yesterday.
Bianca Fontejon was one of the two victims examined by the NBI Medico Legal Division who had traces of synthetic drugs, MDMA Methylyne Homolog and Synthetic Cathinone, in their system.
The Fontejons said they have no idea how the deadly substance got into their daughter’s body and added the only information they know is the same one that the public knows.
They said that Bianca’s boyfriend told them that he never let the 18-year-old girl out of his sight except when he went to the bathroom for a few minutes.
He also added that Bianca only sipped water from a plastic bottle that was already open when someone handed it to them.
The NBI has arrested six individuals who were reportedly responsible for circulating synthetic drugs in the concert.
Bibiane said she cannot find any reason why someone would mix different kinds of deadly chemical substances and sell them to people.
“Hindi ko alam kung ano ang ginagawa nila, kung ano ang consequences. Kung may malasakit ba sila sa tao, kung mahal ba nila pamilya nila, kasi pwede itong mangyari sa ibang tao. Sana hindi mangyari sa kanila,” she said.
“Gusto namin mabigyan ng justice ang anak ko, pero hindi mo naman hihilingin na may mangyaring masama sa kapwa mo,” she added.
Fontejon lawyer Ariel Radovan said the remaining angle which needs to be resolved is the final and ultimate liability.
“There is no other person to give light to what happened aside from the organizers. They said they followed strict requirements but they are yet to explain how these deadly drugs got to the hands of the victims,” he said.
“If you’re the host of a party, you should know how such incident happened because they were the ones managing.
Those kids came to party, they did not come to die,” he added.
Radovan said what happened was bordering on criminal negligence. However, they still have not filed charges against the event organizer as the NBI is still waiting for them to cooperate.
He is also encouraging the families of the other victims to join them in filing a class suit against the event organizer. Two of the remaining three families have already agreed to appear before the NBI and cooperate.
(ARGYLL CYRUS B. GEDUCOS)