Lodge owner, room boy invited to shed light on downtown fire

CEBU, Philippines – The Bureau of Fire Protection has invited for questioning one of the owners of the establishments that were gutted by a fire the other day along Leon Kilat Street in barangay Kalubihan, this city, and also one of the room boys of another lodging house as part of the bureau’s ongoing investigation.

BFP-Cebu City fire marshal Esmael Codilla said that they have called in Ian Lerio who co-owns, along with his mother Salvacion Lerio, the SL Lodge and SL Pawnshop that were among the establishments razed in the fire that struck the Cebu United Investors, Inc. Building.

The other is Enriquito Duhocarog, one of the room boys of Ken’s Lodge which was also burned down, believed to have been on duty when the fire broke out.

Codilla said that the bureau would want to find out from the two as to where the fire could have really started. He said that as of the moment they are looking at electrical misuse but that they are also considering other possiblities.

One of the angles they are investigating on is the report on arson which could have been started by one of the tenants of the said building.

However, fire investigator Roylin Maratas said that they do not have the exact name of the one alleged to have started the fire because the owners of the other establishments could not identify him.

During the fire, building secretary Dominic Zamora said that they suspect of a certain tenant who could have started the fire after they asked him to leave the place when he failed to settle rental dues for over a year.

Codilla confirmed that the six establishments renting spaces in the two-storey building were totally burned including the Pebusa Marketing, Cecile Enterprises, and Customer’s Choice Eatery.

Though the fire reached the warehouse of Gaisano South-Capital, it rendered minimal damage. However, it caused windows of the nearby University of Cebu campus to shatter.

The fire broke out past 9 p.m. and placed under control at 10:10 p.m.

Damage was estimated to have reached P8.1 million.

Codilla said that they are hoping to come out with the final findings today after looking closely at all probable causes. — AJ dela Torre/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)