Arson in Cebu City Hall fire?

CEBU CITY — It may have been an accident waiting to happen, but when fire struck the cooperative’s office at City Hall Tuesday morning, officials immediately smelled arson.

The official version, by fire investigator Felix Romero, is that a short circuit caused the fire that hit the office of the Bayanihan Multipurpose Cooperative of city employees, on the second floor of City Hall.

This jibed with the observation of Florentino Ocampo, who manages the cooperative, that there had been instances in the past when the office experienced short circuits in its electrical system.

Ocampo, however, said all of these incidents were simply ignored and left unreported.

But other officials could not ignore allegations that diehard supporters of outgoing Mayor Alvin Garcia have plans to block the takeover of mayor-elect Tomas Osmeña, including burning down City Hall if they have to.

Even Garcia himself, alarmed by the allegations, ordered firetrucks to be detailed at City Hall to show his political opponents that he was not a party to the alleged plans.

But on Independence Day, a holiday, firefighters supposed to safeguard the building apparently let their guard down. Those on duty from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. left before their relievers came.

And fire did strike, shortly before 9 a.m., when no firetruck was guarding City Hall.

At about that time, city employees making up the city government’s delegation to the Independence Day parade, marched into the Cebu City Sports Center about a kilometer away, unaware how close they were to losing their jobs.

It was acting city attorney Maria Ada Veloso and her secretary, who were not supposed to be working that day, who discovered the fire as they were going up to the third floor where their offices were.

Veloso and her secretary logged in at 8:45 a.m., planning to prepare some documents that were to be needed the following day. It was while they were going up the staircase that the two women smelled something burning.

"We smelled something burning but thought it was just from a cigarette butt. But then we noticed a faint waft of smoke so we asked two janitors who were cleaning the building to verify it," Veloso said.

On being told that the smoke was coming from the second floor, Veloso said she immediately notified security and asked the fire department to be called.

It did not take long for the firefighters to arrive and the blaze was put out in 10 minutes, but not before it destroyed the cooperative’s office, including all its important papers such as loan records.

Ocampo said about 90 percent of some 1,500 cooperative members had outstanding loans as of last Dec. 31. The cooperative has receivables amounting to P44 million and net assets worth P50 million.

Property losses from the fire were initially placed at P80,000.

Romero said a tumbler switch on an outlet in the office had not been turned off and this was the most probable cause of the fire.

But incoming vice mayor Michael Rama appears not inclined to immediately rule out the possibility of arson.

"You do not close your eyes to these things. We will look into this matter. You cannot avoid apprehensions because of the numerous cases now up in the Ombudsman," Rama said.

Several officials have pending cases in the anti-graft office, including Garcia who has 28. Most of the documents related to these cases are at City Hall.

Another incoming official, councilor-elect George Rama, said he does not believe the fire was an accident caused by a short circuit.

He said employees were not in the building and nobody was using electricity there because it was a holiday.

Garcia, who immediately left for the United States for a medical check-up after losing the election, could not be reached for comment.

But Rama said he will consult acting mayor Renato Osmeña on how to deal with the matter since he thinks it is something that has to be taken seriously. — Freeman News Service