MANILA, Philippines — Fire investigators said Sunday that the Star City amusement park was “categorically” set on fire intentionally.
Pasay City Fire Marshal Paul Pili said that gasoline samples where found “in an area where it should not be.”
“Nakikita natin na ‘yung gasolina (we saw the gas), it is not necessary the place where we see it. So because of that, we are now… sa aming mga imbestigador (according to the investigators), it is already an arson case,” he said in an interview.
According to Pili, a certain “Mr. Wong,” along with other personnel, entered the vicinity of Star City carrying sacks of cotton on the night the fire happened.
However, Pili said that it was only Wong who logged in and not the other personnel.
“Bakit hindi naglogbook; naglogbook siya pero hindi niya nilogbook yung mga kasama niya (Why didn’t they log in the logbook; Wong logged in but his companions did not),” he said while noting that Wong could be a possible person of interest. Wong is a tenant of the amusement park, Pili added.
Pili affirmed the possibility that officers of the Star City corporation may have started the fire. However, he said that the management still has to obtain its testimonies regarding the incident.
In any case that a third-party caused the fire incident, Pili said that the amusement park would still covered by insurance.
“We will look into it kung sila ba ay nalulugi o hindi (if they were losing money). Doon makikita ‘yung motibo kasi mahirap i-pinpoint kung sino nagsunog (We will see if that’s their motive because it’s hard to pinpoint who started the fire),” Pili said.
Pili then dismissed the notion that the cause of fire was due to faulty electricity because as part of the standard operating procedure of Star City, electricity was shut down during non-operational hours, he said.
The fire that burned down the majority of Star City started around 12:22 a.m. Wednesday and reach Task Force Bravo.
The blaze was then declared fire out at 2:02 p.m. of the same day.
Authorities said that the incident left P1 billion worth of damage. No casualties were also recorded. /je