Cagayan mayor charged over fire

MANILA, Philippines –  The mayor of Tuguegarao City in Cagayan was recently charged before the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the fire last Dec. 19 that struck a pension house there that claimed the lives of 16 people, including male nursing graduates.

The Inter-Agency Anti-Arson Task Force of the Department of the Interior and Local Government filed the charges against Tuguegarao City Mayor Delfin Ting for violation of Article 208 (prosecution of offenses, negligence and tolerance) of the Revised Penal Code.

The provision, according to the DOJ, metes a penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period and suspension on any public officer, or officer of the law, who, in dereliction of the duties of his office, “maliciously refrain from instituting prosecution for the punishment of violators of the law, or shall tolerate the commission of offenses.”

The duration of prision correccional, suspension and destierro is from six months and one day to six years, except when the suspension is imposed as an accessory penalty, in which case, its duration shall be that of the principal penalty.

Sixteen people were killed when fire hit the Bed and Breakfast Pension House, where the nursing graduates were billeted for the licensure examination, and a semi-commercial building at the corner of Luna and Mabini streets in Tuguegarao City.

Senior Superintendent Mao Aplasca, Cagayan police director, said the fire broke out at 1 a.m., initially trapping most of the victims in the two buildings.

Superintendent Pedro Martirez, Tuguegarao City police chief, said the bodies of nine male nursing graduates of the University of La Sallete in Santiago City, Isabela were retrieved along with six others.

The burnt remains of the couple who owned one of the fire-razed buildings and their two grandchildren were also among the fatalities.

Martirez identified six of the fatalities as Norman Fondevilla, Anniedel Fondevilla, Mildred de Leon, Karylle de Leon, Josh de Leon, and a certain Jen, reportedly a house helper.

“All the victims were trapped in the two buildings. They were burned beyond recognition. Most of the victims were identified (by) their relatives and companions,” Martirez said.

The DOJ also charged a certain Araceli Fondevilla with reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple physical injuries under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code.

In an affidavit, the Inter-Agency Anti-Arson Task Force said reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and multiple physical injuries should have been charged against Michael Norman Fondevilla, being the owner of the pension house.

But Fondevilla’s death in the blaze extinguished his criminal liability, it said.

Also included in the charge sheet was Gil Fondevilla Semanero for violation of Presidential Decree 1829 for obstruction of justice.