IN FLAMES The municipal trial court of Minglanilla town, Cebu, is engulfed in fire after a court employee allegedly set it ablaze on Tuesday. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
CEBU CITY—A court employee died after he allegedly set on fire on Tuesday the courthouse of Minglanilla town in southern Cebu, razing four other government offices and wounding 16 people, including a judge.
The perpetrator, Jose Mesa Agusto, 60, and a resident of Barangay Panadtaran in San Fernando town, Cebu, was reportedly mauled by people outside the municipal trial court (MTC) after he locked Judge Wilson Ibones and court employees inside the building.
He was rushed to Minglanilla District Hospital but was declared dead when he arrived, according to Police Capt. Kalvin Golitod, chief of the Minglanilla police.
Police investigators have yet to determine the motive of Agusto, who was one of the MTC’s employees.
Trapped and injured
The fire in Minglanilla was one of the three fires that hit Metro Cebu in a span of 24 hours that also left five other people dead. The two other fires happened in Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island—one in a firecracker factory in Barangay Babag II on Monday and the other in Barangay Pusok on Tuesday, “with the latter displacing 20,000 people.
The Minglanilla fire did not only destroy the MTC on the second floor of the building but also the Minglanilla Traffic Command on the ground floor.
It also razed the nearby Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office and damaged the adjoining Rural Health Unit, Tourism Office, E-Learning Center and Local Youth Development Office.
The fire was reportedly started by Agusto by lighting up the court documents beneath his table using a lighter, Golitod said.
When Ibones saw Agusto, he immediately instructed another court employee Darwin Rondina to stop the suspect.
However, Agusto allegedly attacked Rondina, Ibones, and other court employees with a fluorescent tube. He then locked the courtroom, preventing the people from going outside. Investigators have yet to determine the number of people who were inside the building when the fire occurred.
Jay Posadas, member of the Minglanilla Traffic Commission, rushed to the second floor when he noticed smoke coming from the courtroom and after hearing court employees shout for help.
Posadas was surprised that the wooden door of the MTC was locked, prompting him to kick it.
When the door fell on the ground, Posadas saw several people suffering burns on their bodies. Among them was Ibones.
The victims were rushed to Minglanilla District Hospital, South General Hospital in the City of Naga, Cebu, and Perpetual Succour Hospital in Cebu City due to several burns on their bodies.
SFO1 Derik Cordova of the Minglanilla Fire Station said they are reviewing footage of a closed-circuit television in the area to determine what exactly happened.
“We have yet to talk to the victims who are still in the hospitals,” he said.
But based on their interviews with witnesses, Cordova said Agusto ran outside the courthouse and locked it before he was mauled by people who saw the incident.
Cordova said the fire quickly spread due to voluminous documents in the courthouse. From the first alarm, the fire was raised to the second alarm at 12:10 noon and the third alarm at 12:20 p.m. It was put out about 40 minutes later.
Lapu-Lapu fatalities
In Lapu-Lapu City, two fire incidents were recorded on Monday and Tuesday.
On Monday, five people were killed in a fire that burned down a firecracker factory in Barangay Babag II.
Those who perished in the fire were Chito Berdin, the owner of Chito’s Fireworks; his son John Raniel Berdin, 8; his daughter Gwendolyn Berdin Lucero, 31; and their production workers Kristian Monsanto, 34, and Argie Escobia, 30.
Five other persons, including an 8-year-old boy, were injured.
The city public information office said the fire started at 1:35 p.m. and quickly spread to at least eight other structures.
On Tuesday, around 1 p.m., another fire destroyed around 600 houses in Sitio Sta. Maria, Barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City, displacing about 20,000 individuals.
Lapu-Lapu Mayor Junard Chan said there would be no more Christmas party for the government employees of the city and would instead donate whatever the city government has prepared for the party to the fire victims. INQ