‘Drug dependent’ man arrested for setting house on fire in Brgy. Bulacao

A 33-year-old ‘drug dependent’ man was arrested for setting a house on fire in Cabancalan 2 in barangay Bulacao on Friday morning, February 18. | Paul Lauro

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 33-year-old ‘drug dependent’ man was arrested after he allegedly set on fire a house located in Cabancalan 2 in barangay Bulacao, Cebu City on Friday morning, February 18, 2022.

The Cebu City Fire Office will be filing a formal complaint on Destructive Arson against a certain Ryan Gardaban, 33, a resident of the said barangay. Pending the filing of a formal complaint, Ryan is currently detained at Pardo Police Station.

Fire Officer (FO3) Fulbert Navarro, fire investigator, said that this was not the first incident that the man tried to set a house on fire.

According to Jackie, the younger sister of Ryan, the suspect also tried to burn things inside his room twice on January 2022. However, they were not able to report these incidents.

With this, Navarro reminded the public to report any similar incident even on its first attempt to avoid the risk of making it happen again.

“Kung naa gani sa first time palang, inyo nana i-report kay sigurado gyud na nga usban gyud na gyud,” Navarro said.

(During the first attempt, report it immediately because it would surely be done again [if not reported].)

Jackie believes that her brother should be imprisoned for this incident.

“Ipapriso lang gud na siya para maka amgo kay daghan man gud ang ma among. Kay og ako siya nga pasaylo-on, akong kontra mga silingan,” Jackie said.

(It would be better that he will be jailed so he can realize what he did was wrong because many will be affected with what he’s doing. If I will forgive him for what he did, I will also be in conflict with my neighbors.)

Meanwhile, Navarro said the suspect is allegedly a drug dependent person.

“Adik adik man gud ni gud. Basta mag drugs drugs gali, wa gyud nay kaugmaon,” Navarro said.

(He is a drug dependent. Once you engage in illegal drugs, you have no future.)

Fortunately, residents there helped each other to immediately put out the fire. If not for their efforts, the fire would have spread and caused a huge damage since the area is located in an interior portion of the barangay, where most houses are made up of light materials, said Navarro.

Navarro could not disclose yet the estimated cost of the damage from the fire but said it affected just a six-square-meter area. Most of those that got burned were clothes, bedsheets, and a cabinet. Some portions of the house were also razed.

Navarro is asking the public to be cautious, especially since next month, the Bureau of Fire Protection will be observing the Fire Prevention Month.

/bmjo

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