Policeman, wife die in Danao fire

CEBU, Philippines - The date Senior Police Officer 2 Felix Matbagon and his wife Liza celebrated as their wedding anniversary would also become the date they joined each other in the afterlife.

What makes this sadder is that Matbagon, assigned to the Danao City police, is a month away from retirement.

Felix and Liza celebrated their anniversary and slept early last Friday night with plans to attend the Misa De Gallo at 4 a.m. yesterday.

But this was not to be after they were killed by a fire that hit their house along Mabini St., Barangay Poblacion, Danao City, before Friday midnight.

Felix, 54, has been on non-duty status at the Danao City Police Station since Oct. 1 as he was preparing the documents for his optional retirement effective January 1, 2012, station chief Chief Insp. Ricky Delelis said.

The fire also injured the couple’s daughter, Liezel Matbagon Herminanda, 32, her husband Antonio, and their two-year-old daughter Izel.

The fire also razed a neighboring house owned by Manolo Angeles, who is also a relative of the Matbagons, Delelis said.

Nobody was injured in Angeles’ house, as the caretaker, who was alone in the house, was alerted to the fire.

Delelis said the couple and the Herminanda Family were sleeping in two separate rooms at the second floor when the fire broke out around 11:45 p.m.

Felix and Liza were trapped inside their room while Liezel and her husband, who noticed the fire, were able to flee along with their daughter. They suffered minor burns in their feet and different parts of the body.

Fire investigators set damage at around P500,000 including the couple’s sari-sari store.

Delelis said signs point to electrical misuse as the cause of the fire.

Shortly after the fire was put out, Delelis said the charred bodies of the couple were recovered.

While Felix’s remains were still recognizable, Delelis said Liza’s were beyond recognition. The policeman’s body was still in the bedroom while his wife was recovered at the ground floor.

“Si Matbagon (Felix) nakababa pa ng higaan. Parang nag-attempt siya na tumakbo palabas tapos nung bumigay ang sahig, nalaglag yung babae,” Delelis said.

Except for concrete walls the house was mostly made of light materials, he added.

The police official described the couple as religious.

“Pinakamalungkot nga. Hindi natin mapigilan na maging emosyonal. Wedding anniversary nila kahapon. They attended the Misa de Gallo, their first and last Misa de Gallo for the year,” he said.

Delelis, who just assumed as chief of the police station last September 1, also described Felix as a good person, with no bad record in the police service.

Felix, who has been in the police service since December 1, 1987, when it was still known as the Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police, was assigned as patrol officer of Danao City Police Station.

Delelis said the fire department is currently conducting a thorough investigation into what really triggered the fire.  —/BRP (FREEMAN)