A 30-YEAR-OLD man was arrested for trying to set afire his boarding house in barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City.
Renato Arado, a native of Leyte province and a production worker of a company at Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ), may have been high on drugs during the incident, police said.
Arado and his live-in partner occupied one room of the boarding house owned by Teresita Inot.
Inot told police that it was past 1 p.m. Monday when she heard neighbors shouting that the boarding house was on fire.
Inot said she later saw smoke coming from Arado’s room.
Inot and his neighbors forced opened the door of Arado’s room and saw Arado inside burning pieces of paper.
Residents doused the flames with buckets of water.
Police arrived and arrested Arado, who denied that he tried to burn the room.
Police said that according to some residents, Arado was known in the barangay as a drug user.
The man’s live-in partner was at work during the incident./CORRESPONDENT NORMAN V. MENDOZA