Cebu City Hall roving guard Brian Felisilda said he was at the Plaza Sugbo to oversee the parking of vehicles in the area around 7:30 a.m. when he noticed the fire inside enclosure housing a wooden cross believed to be the one Magellan planted on the ground when he landed in Cebu.
Fearing that the whole structure would burn down, Felisilda said he ran toward the city hall building to get a fire extinguisher and when he rushed back to the monument, he saw a man on fire lying face down on floor. The monument, located on Magallanes Street, is a popular site for Catholic devotees and tourists.
Felisilda said he sprayed the fire extinguisher on the upper body of the man on fire but by that time the man’s shirt was completely consumed by the flames.
The guard said he immediately cordoned the area to keep people away until paramedics of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf) arrived.
The man, described as being in his 50s, was rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center where Dr. Rose Villero told reporters he was in critical condition with 2nd-degree burns on the face, head and and half of the body.
The man had yet to be identified and no relatives had shown up at the hospital.
Felisilda said the man was alone during the incident. He brought with him a small glass container, which turned out to have been filled with gasoline. A receipt showed he bought the fuel at a gas station on T. Padilla. A lighter was also found near him.
Before the self-immolation, the man was seen praying inside the kiosk housing Magellan’s Cross. Then, he poured the liquid on himself and lit himself up.
Felisilda said the other guards in the area recognized the man as someone who frequently visited the cross to pray.
This was the second time that a person intentionally burned himself in Cebu. In the ’80s, an engineer who taught at local university died after he set himself on fire at Plaza Independencia in front of members of his cult and the media, believing that he would be resurrected.