28-year-old man in chains killed in Cebu City fire

CEBU CITY — Personal tragedies overshadowed the sweeping fire that razed 200 houses and left more than a thousand homeless in Alaska Mambaling here early Tuesday.

A drug dependent chained inside his room by his family died a terrible death, his chance of escaping the angry flames made impossible by the very instrument used to keep him out of trouble.

The charred body of Armando Bangcal, 28, was still bound in chains when rescuers came upon it as they scoured the burnt area, fire investigator Frank Donoso said.

Earlier, a 74-year-old man named Gregorio Unabia, who allegedly started the fire by burning clothes inside his own house and then throwing some of the burning pieces onto the roof of his neighbor, a certain Gemma de la Cerna, attacked the latter’s son-in-law with a bolo when what he had been up to was discovered.

The son-in-law, Michael Torres, was cradling his three-month-old baby girl when Unabia attacked him. Both sustained serious injuries. Unabia fled.

Firefighter Jose Antonio Torres was injured by falling debris. Fire investigators initially placed property losses at P800,000.

Bangcal had been kept in chains by his family for the past two years because he often went berserk and attacked neighbors.

At the time of the fire, Bangcal only had his mother, Narcisa, for company. The fire engulfed their house so quickly there was little left for the woman to do but to flee for her own safety.

Police are still trying to determine why a caliber .22 revolver was found beside his charred remains.

Aside from Torres and his daughter and the firefighter, two others, Arlyn Ilaham and Melyn Abraham, both teenagers, were hurt when they jumped out of their house and fled barefoot to safety.

Most of the houses in the largely slum area were made of light materials.

De la Cerna told The Freeman that she and Unabia had been neighbors since 1995 and that the old man had been resentful of her hog-raising and constantly harassed her and her family.

She also claimed that before moving to Alaska Mambaling, Unabia had resided in Basak Ibabao where he also allegedly tried to set his house on fire.

The fire victims are temporarily housed at the Mambaling Elementary School and the Naba basketball court.

City Hall, aside from giving immediate aid, said it was considering extending financial assistance to the fire victims, most of them Muslims. — Freeman News Service