BFP probes claims illegal drugs caused Barangay Calamba fire

Fire believed to be started by a drug-crazed young man allegedly holding a pot session left more than a thousand people homeless in drug-prone Barangay Calamba, Cebu City
(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

1,158 VICTIMS, 223 HOUSES

Fire investigators are looking at arson as the cause of Wednesday’s early morning fire that gutted 223 houses and left 286 families homeless in Barangay Calamba, Cebu City.

Reports reaching them claimed that the blaze was sparked by a lighted drug paraphernalia left in a rented room during a pot session along a small corridor that residents had long believed to be a drug den.

The fire broke in Sitio Almacen at around 6 a.m. at the second floor of the house of Eleazar Piloton, a former Cebu City Hall job order employee. It quickly spread to the adjoining Sitio Alceca.

At 6:31 a.m., the alarm was raised to Task Force Bravo, which brought fire responders from the neighboring cities of Mandaue, Talisay and Lapu-Lapu, and the towns of Minglanilla, Cordova and Consolacion rushing in to contain the fire.

Cebu City fire investigator Lowel Opolentisima said that while it was possible that an unattended lighted candle or a burning stove caused the blaze, they were not ruling out the claims of residents that the fire was a result of a pot session in the area by a drug-crazed youth.

But Opolentisima stressed that there was yet no proof to the neighbors’ allegations that Piloton’s house was used as a drug den as it was located right in front of a policeman’s house.

Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP-7) Regional Director, Fire Senior Supt. Samuel Tadeo who rushed to the fire scene, noted that fire trucks had a hard time penetrating the area, as the only way towards it was a two-meter wide alley.

The fire was put under control more than an hour later but was completely stamped out at 10:43 a.m. or close to five hours after it began.

By the time the fire turned to ember, the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office counted 1,158 individuals left homeless in Sitios Almacen and Alceca.

Michael Vincent Gingoyon, 22, who rented a room inside Piloton’s house, was also left bruised after residents in the area tried to maul him over suspicions that the fire was caused by a pot session that he was having.

Witnesses claimed the fire started from Gingoyon’s bed and quickly spread to other parts of Piloton’s house.

A police officer, who happened to pass by the area of the commotion, rescued Gingoyon from irate fire victims and brought him to the nearby Punta Princesa Police Station where Gingoyon was frisked and investigated for arson after police found drug paraphernalia inside his wallet.

In an interview with reporters, Gingoyon denied starting the fire but admitted to using illegal drugs and working as a “runner” for Calamba’s drug dealers.

Gingoyon claimed that he was outside the house when the fire broke as his landlord, Piloton, warned him last March against doing drugs inside his rented room.

Zenaida Orlanes, 54, was busy cooking for her three children who were about to go to school when she saw her neighbors running towards the small alley exiting V. Rama Street.

Orlanes heard loud bursts coming from gas tanks and air conditioners and checked outside to see that fire was merely three houses away from their home.

“I ordered my children to hurry out of the house and pick up anything they could bring. I was in shock,” Orlanes told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano.

Calamba Barangay Captain Ma. Yvonne Feliciano declared a state of calamity and sent victims to Bliss Elementary School, Don Sergio Osmeña National High School and Remedios parish grounds along A. Lopez Street for temporary shelter as the village gym still housed 30 families who were also victims of a fire in Sitio Mahayay last July 24.

“Wa pa gani ta kahuman og tabang ana nila, nia na sad ning laing sunog. Pero ato g’yud ni pangitaan og paagi, ato g’yud ni tabangan (We are not even done yet helping the other victims, now here comes another fire. But we will definitely find ways to help all of them),” Feliciano told CDN.

The Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) has initially provided food packs for the fire victims to last them three days.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said that it was time to work on preventive measures to stop a similar calamity from happening in the city.

The mayor tasked Nagiel Bañacia, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) to find a way to distribute fire extinguishers in every sitio.

“He (Bañacia) has to answer for many of these things. Fire extinguisher is one thing, organizing the people is another. We are utilizing our kapilya (chapel) organization. We can cut fire rates in Cebu (tremendously program),” Osmeña said. / with CorrespoNdent Inna Gian Mejia