RismadarVoice Reporters, May 26, 2026
The anguished words of Lea Casilao captured the grief of dozens of families on Tuesday as Philippine authorities formally ended search and rescue operations at the site of a collapsed construction building in Angeles City, north of Manila, shifting focus to the grim task of recovering the dead.
Rescuers made the call on Monday evening after life-detection equipment found no further signs of life beneath the concrete rubble, mangled steel, and fallen scaffolding of the remains of a workers’ building that came down without warning in the early hours of Sunday morning.
For Casilao, the disaster became real through silence. She and her husband, Joselito, had a simple daily ritual a “Good morning” text from her, answered unfailingly with “Good morning, love.” On Sunday, his reply never arrived.
She had last heard from him the previous evening, when she knew he was staying overnight at the workers’ barracks on the construction site. When her calls went unanswered Sunday afternoon, she went to the site herself and found catastrophe.
“I kept calling his number, but nothing,” said the 47-year-old, sitting in a makeshift tent outside the site as bulldozers began clearing debris from the road. Around her, other families held the same terrible vigil.
By Tuesday, whatever hope remained had dissolved. “My hope of still finding him alive has collapsed,” she said, her voice breaking.
Authorities confirmed at least four fatalities, among them a Malaysian national whose body was pulled from a neighbouring hotel building struck by the collapse. Sixteen others most of them construction workers remain unaccounted for.
Among the confirmed dead was the father of 19-year-old Evelyn Alicaway, who said she recognised him from a video circulating on social media even before his face was fully visible. “Even with his face blurred, I knew right away it was him. It hurt me so much to see my father like that,” she said through tears at his funeral.
Officials from the regional Bureau of Fire Protection acknowledged the pain of waiting families at a Tuesday briefing. “We know how hard this is for you. We sympathise with what you are going through. Rest assured, we did everything we could to save lives,” said information officer Maria Leah Sajili.
Investigators are now turning their attention to what caused the building to give way and whether the structure was legally compliant. Authorities say the approved permit covered nine floors, yet a swimming pool was reportedly under construction on an unauthorised tenth floor at the time of the collapse.
The development has drawn scrutiny of the building’s safety record. The Philippine labour agency had already suspended work at the site in September 2025 over safety violations, only to lift the order a month later after the developer reportedly addressed the breaches.
Victims’ families are now calling for accountability. “We hope the owner will take responsibility and address what happened to the workers. The families are also suffering. This is not what we wanted, but they need to coordinate with us,” said Rosenda Alicaway, mother of one of the deceased.
As recovery teams move in to retrieve the remaining victims, the tragedy has reignited urgent questions about construction safety oversight in the Philippines and the human cost of corners being cut on building sites.
