BACOLOD City – An elevator at the three-storey Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) malfunctioned on Friday, Feb. 10, trapping two employees of Panay News for nearly an hour.
Circulation Manager Haydee Libo-on and newsboy Edrail Paderna were supposed to visit the offices of Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (third floor), Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran (second floor) and the Public Information Office (third floor).
According to Libo-on, they entered the elevator from the ground floor around 9:45 a.m.
Upon noticing that it was not functioning, Libo-on said she rang the elevator’s emergency button for 30 minutes to no avail, and they waited for several more minutes to be safely rescued. They were able to leave the elevator before 10:30 a.m.
City hall employees had to pry open every elevator door in all three levels of the building to locate Libo-on and Paderna.
Libo-on complained of difficulty breathing while trapped in the elevator due to poor ventilation.
Paderna, on the other hand, said the experience was traumatizing.
The BCGC had no elevator operator, it was learned.
Lawyer Karol Joseph Chiu, secretary of Mayor Benitez, said they will investigate the incident. In the meantime, he had the elevator closed.
Chiu directed Building Administrator Engineer Amy Tentia to review the elevator’s maintenance record and footage from the building’s closed-circuit television, and make an incident report./PN
