This is the Isuzu dump truck damaged after its front tire was allegedly set on fire. | Representative Franco’s FB page
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A dump truck owned by Cebu fifth district Representative Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco was damaged after its tire was allegedly set on fire at past 1 a.m. on Friday, January 17, 2020.
Police Major Pedy Noval V, San Francisco Police Station chief, said the white Isuzu dump truck was parked outside the home of Fabian Machete, the designated driver of the truck, in Barangay Unidos, San Francisco town when the incident happened.
Noval told CDN Digital that Machete and his wife, Evelyn, reported the incident to the Bureau of Fire Protection in San Francisco town around 2:30 a.m.
Quoting the report of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) of San Francisco, Camotes, Noval said the couple heard a loud bang outside their home at past 1 a.m. and saw that the right front tire was already on fire when they arrived outside.
The couple put out the fire themselves, Noval said.
The local BFP is still investigating the incident.
Noval said that the police were also conducting a separate investigation on the incident.
Meanwhile, Frasco labelled the incident as a form of “harassment, intimidation, violence, and destruction inflicted upon the people of the 5th District.”
Frasco said that he purchased the vehicle from money out of his own pocket and designated it for the use of the people in the four towns of Camotes Islands: Pilar, Poro, San Francisco and Tudela, which are part of his district.
“Nagtuo siguro sila na sa ilang pagsunog niining truck na akong gipalit sa akong kaugalingong pondo, ako ang ilang gidaug-daug,” Frasco said in a Facebook post at noon on Jan. 17.
(They must have thought that burning the truck bought from my own funds, that I was the one they were bullying.)
“They seem to believe that the people do not deserve to have a better life. I believe otherwise. And so, while they continue with their age-old tactics of violence and fear, we will continue the change we have started,” he added.
The congressman, however, did not name the persons he suspected to be behind the incident. / dbs