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Thursday, August 03, 2006
Drug addicts 'set off fire' in Cebu City barangay
By Jovy S. Taghoy and Rene H. Martel
CEBU CITY -- A lighted candle used in a shabu session or gas lamps quarrelling drug users threw at each other may have caused the fire in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City that left about 500 families homeless.
The fire that swept through Sitios Tangke II and Lawis last Tuesday night wiped out P1.8 million worth of property, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said.
Initial investigation by the BFP showed that the fire started at the house of one Macky Brown but occupied by Amay Orongan.
A 14-year-old boy was taken to the Cebu City Medical Center for gunshot wounds in the right buttock and right leg after the service firearm of a policeman, who was trying to save his belongings from the fire, went off.
Rey (real name withheld for being a minor) told investigators from the Homicide Section that he and SPO3 Noel Evangelista of the Mobile Patrol Group (MPG) accidentally bumped each other along a dark alley in the area.
Rey said he heard gunfire and moments later felt that his right leg going numb. A bullet from Evangelista's firearm hit Rey's right buttock and leg.
Evangelista rushed Rey to the city hospital in a police patrol car.
No fatality was reported in the fire that hit Sitios Lawis and Tangke II.
Fire investigators, though, found several burnt pigs.
Cebu City Hall will allow the families to rebuild their homes in the area.
City Administrator Francisco Fernandez denied talks that the fire was intentional to "clean" the area, which faces the 295-hectare South Road Properties (SRP), of makeshift houses and shanties.
"We will never do that. If arson (caused the fire), it is not a City-inspired activity because we will just be giving ourselves problems," he said.
Mambaling Barangay Captain Rodolfo Estella, in a separate interview, said he did not receive any report that arson caused the five-hour blaze, which started about 8:45 p.m.
What reached him was that two drug addicts in a pot session quarreled and threw gas lamps at each other.
The entire Sitio Lawis was wiped out, while Sitio Tangke II suffered heavy damage.
As of Wednesday noon, Cebu City's Department of Social Welfare Services personnel listed 459 families displaced by the fire.
City Councilor Gerardo Carillo, chairman of the committee on social services, said partial data he received was that 3,195 persons were displaced, 441 houses destroyed, and 31 damaged.
Five Alaska, Mamba-ling elementary school classrooms were also razed.
Listing of affected families took time because officials counterchecked the identities of those lining up to receive assistance.
Fernandez said the tearing down of 28 houses last Monday was to spruce up the SRP since the structures along the Mambaling access road are near the reclaimed area.
But the families were compensated and they voluntary tore down their homes.
Each family, Fernandez said, received either P10,000 or P5,000 plus a relocation site as disturbance compensation.
SFO1 Alikasem Espinola told Sun.Star Cebu Wednesday the alarm was tapped at 8:45 p.m.
Minutes later, Cebu City Fire Marshal Ismael Codilla declared a general alarm so other firefighters from the neighboring cities and municipalities will respond.
The fire was declared under control one hour and 10 minutes later, but it took firefighters until 1:35 a.m. Wednesday to put out the flames.
It was no easy task.
Espinola said kibitzers and residents tried to snatch the hoses from the firefighters to save their houses.
The area also has narrow roads and water pressure was low.
One firefighter identified as SFO1 Wilfredo Ochea was boxed twice in the shoulder by a resident who got angry at the firefighter.
Espinola said Ochea had to leave because the fire truck had run out of water and they had to get more supply. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(August 3, 2006 issue)
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