Arson eyed in Tondo fire

MANILA, Philippines — An alleged drug user who fled the scene of a fire in Tondo, Manila yesterday morning is suspected to have set the blaze.

Barangay 108 captain Rodison Simbiling said some of the fire victims filed a complaint against the man, who is a resident of the barangay, according to radio reports. Simbiling did not identify the man.

Police are pursuing the man, who ran from the area clad only in his underwear.

The man was accused of dousing his neighbors’ houses with fuel in the past and his neighbors suspect him to be behind the latest fire, according to Simbiling.

The second-alarm blaze destroyed 12 houses at the intersection of Capulong Road and Quirino street, displacing 23 families and destroying property worth P300,000, the Bureau of Fire Protection said.