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Their battle isn’t really over.
“The victims and the relatives of those who died in the 1998 Ozone Disco fire have yet to receive in full the damages awarded to them by a Quezon City court,” reports Jaymee T. Gamil in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
According to Justice for Ozone Victims (JOV) Foundation Inc. president Joseph Stephen Santos, “the club operator, Westwood Entertainment, had already declared bankruptcy, making it unlikely the victims would be further compensated.”
The report noted: “In March 2001, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Ofelia Marquez convicted Westwood president Hermilo Ocampo and treasurer Ramon Ng in connection with the March 18, 1996, Ozone Disco fire that killed 162 people and injured more than 90 others.”
The report added: “They were sentenced to four years in prison and fined more than PHP25 million each. Westwood was also ordered by the court to pay PHP150,000 to the relatives of each of those who died and PHP100,000 to each of those injured.”
Santos said, “We got around PHP4 million from the Ozone insurance…and that had to be divided among those who filed the complaint depending on their expenses for burial and hospitalization.”
He revealed that “the biggest amount received by the families of those who were killed was PHP20,000 each.”
But more than the money, Santos said that the foundation was more interested in getting the people they charged in court convicted.
He explained: “[The Sandiganbayan decision] is a precedent. This is the first time that government officials were convicted for this case which is very rare. Now [crooked] establishment owners and government officials will think twice We want them punished because it can be a deterrent to others. Otherwise, if they get away scot-free, even with a conviction, that’s half-baked justice.”
Photo: The Manila Times
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