A fire broke out at the headquarters of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Quezon City before dawn yesterday, destroying almost P10 million-worth of seized chemicals, papers and other “non-drug” evidence stored in eight container vans.
The fire even caused a minor gas explosion from one of the containers that stored flammable chemicals like acetone, case investigator Fire Inspector Arnel Ramilo said.
“Based on our initial interview with the evidence custodian, these materials were already for disposal and were in fact scheduled for destruction,” Ramilo told The STAR in an interview.
“The materials were still stored at the headquarters as they were just waiting for a clearance or a court order to ship them out,” he added.
Ramilo said PDEA’s evidence custodian placed the cost of damaged materials at P9.5 million.
According to Ramilo, they are still determining the cause of the fire, which started at around 2 a.m. and was put out at 7:55 a.m.
The eight container vans where the materials were stored were piled inside the PDEA compound at the corner of Edsa and NIA Road in Barangay Pinyahan.
Ramilo said the container vans were situated near the PDEA museum and laboratory, but the fire was restricted to the containers and did not spread.
It started at container van No. 102 and spread to the other container vans due to heat transfer, including container No. 103, where the gas explosion occurred.
Security guard Rafael de Guzman, who was manning the area, noticed the fire and immediately called up PDEA personnel and firefighters. Nine firetrucks arrived and the firefighters were able to put out the blaze after almost six hours.
Ramilo said a similar incident happened to evidence stored inside the PDEA headquarters last year, caused by a chemical leak.