Waterfront Cebu City police are conducting a parallel investigation into a dawn fire which hit the house of Tejero Councilor Jessielou Cadungog on Wednesday which is believed to be a case of attempted arson. The initial investigation showed that motorcycle-riding men splashed gasoline on Cadungog’s house and ignited it.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON
ARSON ATTEMPT
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is calling on the family of Barangay Tejero Councilor Jessielou Cadungog to cooperate in the investigation on the attempt to burn down his house last November 14.
“We are not forcing the family to come to us but it would have been better if they would cooperate to help in the investigation,” said Senior Insp. Joemar Pomarejos, chief of the Waterfront Police Station in Cebu City.
According to Pomarejos, the family of Cadungog still has not sought the help of the police more than 24 hours after the incident happened.
“Maybe they want to go directly to the BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection) since it is leading the investigation,” said Pomarejos who is conducting a parallel investigation on the arson attempt which was caught on camera.
BFP Fire Marshall, Noel Abapon, said that the culprits have not yet been identified despite available footage from a closed-circuit camera (CCTV) because their faces were not very visible.
“We are still looking for these six men even though they can be difficult to identify,” Abapon told Cebu Daily News.
The CCTV showed that six men on board 3 motorcycles stopped in front of Cadungog’s house at around 2 A.M. of November 14.
One man started splashing gasoline on the front part of the three-storey house where the air-conditioning units were located.
Another man was seen igniting the gasoline by throwing a “Molotov cocktail” at the area.
No one was hurt in the fire as the Cadungogs had left the place since August.
According to the BFP, the fire which was immediately put out by neighbors lasted less than 10 minutes. Damage was estimated at P20,000 for the two burnt air conditioning units.