2 firefighters hurt in Cebu Promdi rally

CEBU CITY — Two Toledo City firefighters responding to an alarm were injured Thursday night when ganged up by an irate crowd that had been listening to former governor Lito Osmeña speak at an Abag-PROMDI rally.

The two firefighters, Ricardo Vega and Silvestre Tiro, were on a firetruck that drove through the crowd with its sirens wailing and lights flashing.

The alarm was called in by a woman who said sparks from fireworks ignited at the rally had fallen on the nipa roofs of nearby houses.

Toledo City fire officer Alex Mompejo, interviewed on DYla, said Vega and Tiro sustained bruises on their bodies when they were pelted with empty softdrink bottles.

Vega was also whipped with a bicycle chain, Mompejo said.

Mompejo denied accusations by Governor Pablo Garcia that the firetruck was deliberately sent to the area by the rival Alayon party to harass and disrupt the Abag-PROMDI rally.

If there was anybody harassed, it was the firefighters who were, said Mompejo.

Garcia, the Visayas chairman of Abag-PROMDI, said the firetruck, after driving through the rally crowd with its sirens wailing and lights flashing, stayed in the area for 10 minutes, forcing Osmeña to cut short his speech and the crowd to disperse. — Freeman News Service