Boy dies after pa sets house on fire

CEBU, Philippines – Criminal charges were filed on Monday against a man for allegedly setting his house on fire that killed his 8-year-old son, shortly after midnight on Saturday at Barangay Cabilawan in Barotac Nuevo town of Iloilo.

Inspector Klarenz Domingo, Barotac Nuevo Police chief, said the suspect, 48-year-old Wenceslao (surname withheld), who is now in jail, was charged with reckless imprudence resulting to parricide.

Police reports said evidences were not enough to pin down Wenceslao for arson and parricide. Part of the basis in the filing of the charges against him was the testimony of his 12-year-old daughter, who along with her siblings, aged 6 and 10, survived the conflagration.

Wenceslao's daughter told investigators her father came home drunken and she saw him kicking their oil lamp that hit a sack full of clothes, lighting a cigarette and then throwing the still burning match into the same sack. The house, which was made of light materials, was immediately engulfed in fire.

The girl managed to awaken his two younger siblings, but her 8-year-old brother got trapped inside the burning house. She then asked for help from neighbors and a cousin of their mother responded and took the injured boy to the hospital.

The boy however died at 4 p.m. Saturday while being treated at the Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City. His father fled immediately after the fire but was arrested shortly at his sibling's house in Anilao town.

Wenceslao insisted to the police that he accidentally tripped off the oil lamp that resulted in the fire. It was reported that his wife separated from him and is now working as a house help in Iloilo City.