Police have taken into custody a man accused of starting the fire in a market in Barangay South Poblacion, San Fernando, Cebu early Thursday morning, July 11. | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — San Fernando police have arrested a man tagged as a person of interest in a fire that hit a public market on early Thursday morning, July 11.
A certain “Andoy” is accused of being the instigator of the San Fernando market fire in Barangay South Poblacion that destroyed a total of 80 stalls.
Moreover, the incident on Thursday caused the destruction of properties worth P11 million.
Upon the arrival of firefighters, the fire was raised to the third alarm at 3:15 a.m. A fire out was declared at 5:19 a.m.
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Senior Fire Officer 1 (SFO1) Stephen Villanueva, fire investigator at the San Fernando Fire Station, said that the man was taken into custody on the day of the incident.
Andoy is believed to be suffering from a mental illness.
As of this writing, he is temporarily being held at the San Fernando Police Station while the investigation is still ongoing.
Andoy was allegedly seen running away from the vegetable section of the market while holding a lighter minutes before the San Fernando market fire fire erupted, according to an eyewitness.
Moreover, he was caught in a closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage at the market on the day of the incident.
Villanueva, however, opted not to disclose the contents of the CCTV footage in order not to affect their ongoing investigation.
He stated that they are still conducting a thorough investigation to determine whether Andoy is indeed guilty of starting the San Fernando market fire.
If their investigation reveals him as the culprit, Villanueva said that they will be filing a charge of arson against Andoy.
San Fernando, officially the Municipality of San Fernando is a second-class coastal municipality located 38.1 kilometers south of Cebu City.