Maid starts fire to hide robbery

A fire, believed to have been deliberately set by a newly hired female helper to hide a robbery attempt, reduced a pawnshop and an adjacent bakehouse to ashes yesterday noon in Caloocan City.

Caloocan City Fire Marshall Chief Inspector Agapito Nacario said damage has been initially placed at around P5 million.

Nacario said the owners of the pawnshop are still determining how much of their total inventory was carted away by two still unidentified suspects, both males, and the housemaid identified only as "Manang," 40. Witnesses told arson probers, the suspects were seen coming out of the backdoor as the fire raged on the second floor where the fire began.

Investigators said the fire broke out at around 11:30 a.m. yesterday on the second floor of the MVC Pawnshop at 1107 Gen. San Miguel Street just after the railroad crossing. Also burned in the one-hour fire was the Park’n Go Bakeshop beside the pawnshop owned by Benjamin Caro, 72.

Nacario said the fire could have been set by the housemaid hired just a few days ago who has been reported missing.

Police are now after the maid who could shed light on the fire that probers said is a suspected case of arson.

Last Friday, three persons including a 13-year-old girl, were killed in a fire believed to have been set off by their neighbor in Las Piñas City. The remains of Lourdes Chokilo, 65, her sister Zenaida Velos, 50, and their niece Aiza de los Angeles, were found in their one-room apartment 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 investigators 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.

Reports said the Abayons had a fight the night before, and a neighbor later saw the suspect standing behind an LPG tank, holding an unlighted cigarette and match.

Quoting witnesses, the police 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. – Jerry Botial and Pete Laude