Multicab explosion kills retired officer

A RETIRED police colonel was charred to death after his multicab exploded in Sitio Cantipla, Barangay Tabunan, Cebu City last Monday, just six hours before the New Year started.

The man was later identified as Salvador Sanchez, 64, a former chief of the police stations in the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, as well as one-time warden of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).

He failed to jump out of his multicab and died inside.

In 1991, when he was chief of the Mandaue City police force, Sanchez won the Most Outstanding Chief of Police prize in the urban category of a nationwide search.

His other posts included a stint as an adviser on peace and order, from 1992 to 1995, to then Cebu Gov. Vicente de la Serna. He also served in the Bohol PNP.

The Bureau of Fire and Protection (BFP) 7 and the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) at first found it difficult to identify the body, because all of the identification cards and the vehicle itself were burned.

Sanchez was sitting in the driver’s seat when the residents in the area heard an explosion around 6 p.m. Monday.

When the residents went out, they saw the burning multicab. Barangay tanods used a fire extinguisher to fight the flames, before the BFP 7 arrived.

Some residents told homicide investigators that prior to the incident, Sanchez was seen inside the vehicle, reportedly texting.

FO2 Omar Segovia of the BFP 7 said there were traces of thinner, which is flammable, that were apparently loaded on the back of the multicab.

Further investigation by the BFP 7 revealed that the driver’s door of the vehicle was defective, and that Sanchez was apparently trapped.

Segovia said they will still have to confirm what caused the explosion.