An 80-year-old man died after he was trapped inside his burning house in barangay Compostela, Alegria town, southern Cebu.
Because of old age, Bernabe Lobingco, a widower, may have failed to get out of the house when it caught fire past 8 p.m. last Tuesday.
Police said Lobingco may have been sleeping when the fire broke out.
It was possible the old man accidentally toppled an improvised kerosene lamp causing the fire.
The man’s charred remains were recovered around 11 p.m., said police.
The man lived alone in the house which was made of light materials.
No one was able to save the man since the houses in the area were from each other, said P01 Melvin Patoc, investigator of the Alegria police./CORRESPONDENTS JHUNNEX NAPALLACAN AND RHEA RUTH V. ROSELL