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Friday, July 29, 2005
P70M-100M lost in customs fire
By Jovy S. Taghoy & Elias O. Baquero
CEBU CITY -- A Thursday dawn fire razed a warehouse owned by the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) at the Cebu International Port in Pier 6, Cebu City.
The Bureau of Customs, which kept imported and seized goods in the warehouse, lost P70 million to P100 million in the blaze, said Port of Cebu District Collector Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang.
The building, which was about 150 meters away from the sea, housed the Office of the Wharfinger, the PNP Regional Maritime Police 7 field office, the Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp. (Opascor) field office and Star Lite Cargo Express Inc., a private forwarding company.
Star Lite, where the fire reportedly started, was given until the end of this month to vacate because the CPA was going to use the space.
The fire destroyed the 10,000-square-meter warehouse. Only a few items were saved when the Bureau of Fire Protection tapped the alarm at 3:55 a.m.
No one was reported injured, but firefighters, including those from the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, the Filipino-Chinese Fire Brigade, La Tondeña Fire Brigade and Emergency Rescue Unit, were forced to stop fighting the blaze when an explosion occurred at the warehouse.
The explosion was later found to have been caused by the chemicals, petroleum and lubricant products kept in the building, and ammunition in the armory section of the PNP Maritime Police.
"It was like a war zone when the explosion started. We had to duck for cover," Cebu City Fire Marshal Ysmael Codilla.
Acetylene tanks and seized vehicles inside the warehouse also caused several explosions.
Firefighters declared the blaze under control at 4:45 a.m. but it took them the whole morning to extinguish the fire.
Mangaoang called the blaze unfortunate as the seized and forfeited goods were scheduled for auction next month. She expected to net at least P20 million from the sale.
In a press conference, Mangaoang said the goods include seized, forfeited and abandoned cargoes that have been kept there for five to 13 years.
Of the more than 200 seized and forfeited vehicles at CIP, 22 luxury cars were also burned. These include four slightly used Sorento cars, two Hyundai Starex vans and two Rexton Musso vehicles.
Mangaoang said she will leave it to the Cebu City Fire Department to investigate the incident. However, she may ask the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation.
Codilla said they will include the arson angle in their investigation.
Initial investigation showed that the fire started in Star Lite Cargo Express at the right wing of the building fronting the highway.
Although firefighters did not experience difficulty in road accessibility and water supply because of the hydrants inside the port, strong winds coming from the sea fanned the flames, making it hard for them to put out the blaze.
Codilla raised the status to a general alarm at 4:32 a.m. so that the neighboring Metro Cebu fire stations would respond.
SPO1 Efren Quinan, PNP Maritime Police supply officer and one of the four personnel on duty when the fire broke out, said they lost a .50 machine gun and unaccounted number of ammunition, all documents, including the blotter book, assorted evidence and their personal belongings.
Quinan said they were only able to save the center processing units of the computers, assorted shotguns, and M16 and M14 rifles.
He said they wanted to get more office property, but they could not do so because of the heavy smoke. The place was already very dark since the electricity was already cut.
CPA General Manager Mariano Martinez said the CPA had given Star Lite until the end of the month to vacate.
Last March 12, then customs commissioner Alberto Lina ordered Star Lite to apply for a public bonded warehouse operation after discovering that the BOC lost P2 million in unrealized supervision fees.
CPA records show that Star Lite has been operating at CIP, a customs zone, for about eight years. The company was first ordered to vacate the area last December, but the Cebu Port Commission approved the firm's request for an extension.
(July 29, 2005 issue)
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