BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – A Christmas Day fire trapped a 36-year-old police officer in his mother’s house in Purok Jacinto, Barangay San Fernando, Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
Police Corporal Joebert Diasanta of the Silay City police station died. His brother Uldarico tried but failed to save him because the fire was already too big.
Diasanta, who had his own house in Menlo, Talisay City, decided to spend Friday night (Dec. 24) in his mother’s house after bringing there the vehicle that the whole family was supposed to use for next morning’s Christmas Day Mass.
At around 4:30 a.m., the rest of the family left for Mass. The cop, however, stayed behind and opted to continue resting.
According to Uldarico, he was still in the house when the fire began and he tried to douse the flames with water but to no avail. The fire spread rapidly throughout the house.
Police Corporal Diasanta was last heard screaming for help but the fire was already too big. He left behind a wife and two children.
The fire may have come from an unattended lighted candle, according to Fire Senior Inspector Jovelyn Zamar, Talisay City acting fire chief.
It could not have been electrical short circuit, he said, because electricity had not yet been restored in the house following the onslaught of super typhoon “Odette”.
Silay City police chief, Police Lieutenant Colonel Robert Petate, meanwhile, expressed sadness over the loss of one of their finest police officers.
Petate described Diasanta as diligent and a family man./PN
