The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Wednesday, May 27, asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue a hold departure order (HDO) against the owner and contractor of the nine-storey building that collapsed in Angeles City, Pampanga, as authorities pressed ahead with rescue and investigation efforts.

In a press briefing at the ground zero in Barangay Balibago, DILG Secretary Juanito Victor "Jonvic" Remulla said the owner, Ernest Jackson Lim, and contractor Joel Young have failed to present themselves or coordinate with authorities despite being notified by investigators.

He said both individuals need to surface as authorities conduct a full-blown investigation alongside search and rescue operations.

“No one is qualified yet to give a fault-finding report. We are after the facts,” Remulla noted.

The DILG chief said the request for a travel ban came as investigators tried to establish accountability in the collapse of the multi-storey condo-hotel project being constructed near the Clark Freeport Zone, which was reportedly intended for mixed commercial use in one of Central Luzon’s major tourism and business hubs.

Even as calls for accountability mounted, Remulla said authorities were not yet ready to determine who should be held responsible while structural assessments were still underway.

The Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), however, has been directed to summon both the contractor and the owner to determine possible criminal negligence, particularly over reports that workers had allegedly been allowed to stay or sleep inside the construction site.

Remulla also said investigators would examine the possible liability of local officials tasked with enforcing building regulations.

“The probe will also track down the possible negligence of the city engineer and the city building official in the performance of their duties,” he said.

Authorities are now collating reports from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), PNP, and local government units while engineers inspect the debris to determine the cause of the collapse.

The building had earlier been issued a temporary work stoppage order by labor regulators over safety compliance concerns. The order was later lifted after violations were reportedly corrected.

Remulla said such development is expected to become a key point in the investigation since authorities are now looking into whether safety standards were properly enforced before construction resumed.

Remulla also addressed complaints from families of trapped victims who described the rescue operation as slow, explaining that responders needed to proceed carefully because the damaged structure remained unstable.

“The entire retrieval, search and rescue efforts need to be synchronized as the entire structure would collapse further with one wrong move,” he said.