MANILA, Philippines—Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo on Tuesday launched a probe into the three-day-long fire that started last Friday and gutted the Ever Gotesco Grand Central Mall in Caloocan City.
He ordered his department’s Inter Agency Anti-Arson Task Force to conduct a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the March 16 fire that was finally extinguished Tuesday, or 82 hours after it started.
In a mission order dated March 19, Robredo designated the chief of the task force, Senior Superintendent Fennimore V. Jadian of the Bureau of Fire Protection to lead the probe.
Members of the team include officials from the BFP, the Philippine National Police, and the National Bureau of Investigation.
Robredo ordered the team to coordinate closely with the various authorities concerned and to submit a report within 45 days.
According to a report by the Caloocan City Fire Station, under Superintendent Oscar de Asis, the fire broke out at about 10 p.m. on Friday in a shoe store on the ground floor but it was not immediately clear how it started.