3 perish in Las Piñas fire; arson angle eyed

Three persons including a 13-year-old girl, were killed in a fire believed to have been set off by their neighbor yesterday morning in Las Piñas City.

The charred remains of Lourdes Chokilo, 65, her sister Zenaida Velos, 50, and their niece Aiza de los Angeles, were found in their one-room apartment located on Champaca Street, Paramount Village, Talon 3, Las Piñas.

The rest of those living in the compound managed to escape. A total of seven one-room apartments made of wood were razed to the ground, authorities said.

Police are now looking for Reynaldo Abayon, a jeepney-driver and the victims’ neighbor, whom witnesses said could have possibly started the fire. His wife, Arlene is also missing.

The Abayons reportedly had a fight the night before, and a neighbor later saw the suspect standing behind an LPG tank, holding an unlighted cigarette and match, said arson investigator Senior Fire Officer 1 Geardo Porley.

Quoting witnesses, Porley said that hours before the incident, the suspect was seen beating up his wife, as he usually did when he was drunk. An elderly neighbor pacified the two and made Arlene stay with her for the night.

Just before midnight, another neighbor, Eduardo Ignacio and his wife, heard the whistling of an LPG gas tank coming from the Abayons’ house. When Ignacio rushed to the house, he saw the suspect standing beside the gas tank. The entire house, Ignacio said, smelled of gas. He later took the tank away, fearing that Abayon might set off a fire.

But at around 12:15 a.m., Ignacio was awakened by their dog’s loud barking and saw that a fire was starting. He quickly alerted his neighbors but the three victims were trapped inside.

The fire was put out an hour later. Damage to property was placed at P700,000.

Meanwhile in Quezon City, the police are hunting alleged members of the notorious Akyat-Bahay gang after they robbed the condominium unit of a judge in Quezon City.

Judge Percival Lopez, 69, of the Quezon City RTC Branch 78, and a resident of 819 Union Square Condominiums, told investigators that the robbers stole over P2 million in cash, jewelry and other valuables.

The robbers, believed to be members of the Akyat-Bahay gang, managed to gain entrance inside Lopez’s residence by destroying the front door. Authorities said that nobody was home when the robbery occurred.

Lopez, a widower, said that he was at work and that other members of his family were not in his condominium between 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., the time investigators believe when the robbers committed the crime.

The robbers took assorted pieces of jewelry worth at least P2 million, cellular phones and other valuables and $4,000 in cash. – With Matthew Estabillo