3-man team to probe Cebu City Hall fire

CEBU CITY — Vice Mayor Renato Osmeña, who is acting mayor in the absence of Alvin Garcia, has created a three-man committee to investigate the fire that hit City Hall Tuesday amid suspicions of arson.

He named city administrator Danilo Almendras to head the committee, with acting city attorney Maria Ada Veloso and general services office chief Rolly Ardosa as members.

The fire destroyed the office of the city employees’ cooperative, but spared its important documents, resulting in losses of only about P80,000.

But an alleged threat by supporters of Garcia, who lost to "comebacking" Tomas Osmeña, to block the assumption of the incoming mayor even if they have to burn City Hall, prompted some councilors to suspect that the fire was deliberately set.

The timing of the fire made it more suspicious, occurring during the Independence Day holiday and precisely at a time, shortly after 8 a.m., when no firetruck was detailed at City Hall.

Garcia, to allay suspicions that he was a party to his supporters’ alleged threat, had ordered that firetrucks be detailed at City Hall on shifts.

But as it happened, the fire struck when the firefighters from the Parian station left their post even before their relievers arrived.

Although the city fire department concluded that a short circuit caused the blaze, Osmeña said he wants a separate investigation to dismiss suspicions of arson.

Councilor-elect George Rama said the circumstances surrounding the fire — occurring during a holiday and a detailed firetruck leaving before its reliever came — are highly suspicious, especially in the light of the alleged arson threat.

Another councilor-elect, Sylvan Jajosalem, quoted incoming mayor Osmeña as saying, "See? I told you so" when informed about the fire by telephone in Australia where he is on vacation.

But vice mayor-elect Michael Rama appears to have had a change of heart, now saying that it is hard to prove that the fire was deliberately set.

Rama earlier said that the new city administration should not close its eyes to the incident because of the alleged threat to burn City Hall.

He even aired suspicions that the fire may have something to do with many pending cases some city officials, including Garcia, have in the Office of the Ombudsman, claiming that vital documents related to these cases are still kept at City Hall.

Vice Mayor Osmeña promised to make public the results of the committee’s investigation in two to three days, but Almendras doubts whether the probe could be completed by that time.— Freeman News Service