They allegedly just stood there watching as the neighborhood burned and fists flew.
A day after a shantytown fire in San Juan led to a fatal riot on Christmas Day, a resident has come forward accusing at least four members of the city police of doing nothing to stop the violence.
Andree Lagdameo said she saw how two policemen stood idly by while angry residents— including a former barangay (village) official and his known supporters—practically played tug-of-war with firefighters who were training their hoses on the burning houses on Marne Street, Barangay St. Joseph.
Lagdameo, who also lives on Marne Street, said the policemen also showed no reaction even after they saw the former barangay official’s daughter assaulting her by pulling her hair on suspicion that she had “paid” the firemen to save her house first.
But she said she couldn’t make out the names of the uniformed policemen because it was dark in the area.
“It was already chaotic at that time but the two policemen didn’t do anything,” she told the Inquirer in an interview Wednesday.
According to Lagdameo, two more law enforcers did nothing when one enraged informal settler climbed up a fire truck parked right in front of her house and punched the driver.
“It was so disgusting. It was as if they were in a daze. But what were they there for? They could have done something to stop the attack,” she said of the officers.
To escape, the fire truck driver stepped on the gas and ended up running over a washing machine that was brought out into the street from a burning house, she said.
Reached for comment, San Juan city police chief Senior Supt. Rainier Espina said sanctions await the four policemen if Lagdameo’s allegations prove true. “But name names first. Because if she can’t, whom should we investigate?” he said
Officials earlier said the five-hour fire left some 2,000 people homeless and also sparked a riot that left one person dead.
Chief Supt. Santiago Laguna, head of the National Capital Region office of the Bureau of Fire Protection, said the panic-stricken residents were apparently infuriated by the delayed arrival of firefighters and took it upon themselves to grab fire hoses to aim at their blazing shanties.
A number of firefighting teams were forced to withdraw from the area, fearing for their own lives, according to the city fire marshal, Chief Insp. Gilbert Dolot.
At least 16 people were hurt in the fire while three firefighters were wounded in the riot.