THE charred remains found inside the warehouse destroyed by fire last Saturday has been identified as those of 30-year-old Romel Altabarino of Bais, Negros Oriental.
Altabarino was killed after he was pinned by a motorcycle inside the Du Ek Sam warehouse in Arellano St., barangay San Roque, Cebu City.
SPO3 Filomeno Mendaros, homicide investigator, said San Roque barangay tanod Oscar Rosello identified the remains through what was left of the clothes.
Rosello said Altabarino was chased by bystanders last December 31 after he was caught stealing clothes that were hanged to dry on the roofs.
The tanod said Altabarino wore the clothes he stole over his clothes and escaped through the rooftops. He hadn’t been seen since.
Rosello said before Altabarino was caught stealing clothes, he was rescued by Coast Guard officials swimming in a restricted area at the pier on December 31.
He was turned over to the barangay where he was given food.
But a few hours later, Rosello said Altabarino, who seemed to be not himself, left the barangay hall and climbed the roof of one house where later he was allegedly caught stealing.
On December 31, a security guard of EMBL Enterprise saw a man believed to be Altabarino climbing on top of the container vans of Meridian near the warehouse.
Arson investigators placed the damage to the two warehouses – the EMBL Enterprise and the Du Ek Sam warehouses – at P100,000 excluding the garments and the 70 motorcycle units destroyed by the fire.
Arson investigators were still investigating the cause of the fire.