BACOLOD CITY – The house and ancestral home of the family of Mayor Renato Gustilo on Ylagan St., Barangay 5, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental were destroyed in a fire on Friday, June 14.
MAYOR Renato Gustilo’s house and ancestral home were gutted in a fire in Barangay 5, San Carlos City, Negros Occidental on Friday, June 14. (Photo courtesy of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental LGU Information Facebook)
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-San Carlos said they received a call about the fire around 3:40 p.m. However, they could not provide other details pending further investigation.
Gustilo said that he was in Manila when he learned of the fire and took the last flight back home that night.
Arson is being eyed as possible angle behind the fire that also damaged the iconic Chinese school Daisy's ABC School founded by the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Gustilo said that based on initial investigation, the fire originated from the school’s stock room and spread to a compound where his house and the ancestral house of his grandparents were situated.
Fire out was declared at 6 p.m., according to the BFP. But they have yet to determine damage to property.
A day after the incident, Gustilo said that a man surfaced and confessed that he started the fire because he was angry after he was terminated from the school.
Gustilo said the man, a former school janitor, felt guilty when he learned that the mayor’s house was among the structures that were razed by fire.
He said the janitor surrendered and is now under police custody.
Gustilo said they are waiting for the investigation to finish before deciding if they would file a case.
He said that his family is temporarily staying at his sibling’s house. Gustilo said they are looking for a house to rent. His family failed to save anything from their house.
Gustilo, 64, said that their house and ancestral home were built before he was born.