ANTIQUE – Three vehicles owned by the family of Mayor Ernesto “Toto” Tajanlangit III of Tobias Fornier town in this province were destroyed after it caught fire around 1:20 a.m. yesterday, September 22.
These were Hummer worth P8 million and Ford Mustang worth P3 million owned by Mayor Tajanlangit and Suzuki Ertiga worth P1.2 million owned by Ex-Officio Provincial Board member and Liga ng mga Barangay – Antique president Julius Cezar Tajanlangit.
According to Mayor Tajanlangit, he was informed past 1 a.m. that the three vehicles at the garage of their residence in Barangay Pacencia caught fire.
“Naggwa ako, wara ako mag-expect nga bahul-bahul ang kalayo, sunog na gid ang tatlo ka salakyan tapos nagalupok-lupok. Indi mo run kuon nga ma-save mo pa kag maparapitan mo pa kay delikado, ti puro gasolina ra, ti dyan lang kami nagturok,” he said.
The town’s Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) immediately responded and a “fire out” was declared at around 2:30 a.m.
“Kon tan-awon gid kon ano ang nag-cause sang pagkasunog sang salakyan, siempre kon normal nga tawo ang imo nga una nga paglantaw daw ginhalitan ka bala, sinunog, kay ti naka-parking man ang salakyan mo, patay ang makina, ti gulpi nagkalayo, daw amo man ran ka ran,” the mayor said.
He added that he was not discounting the possibility of “tripping”.
The Tajanlangit family also does not have a closed-circuit television camera installed inside their compound, thus they have no idea if someone had sneaked inside and torched the vehicles.
The mayor said he left the investigation to the BFP to determine the cause of the fire.
“Hopefully wara lang no, bukon ti nami, maluoy man kamo sa amo na nga bagay, bukot makatawo ran kon may amo ka ran, indi kita mag-assume. Ti, makahana ta ka ran sang mga tawo nga wala makasala, budlay man,” the mayor answered when asked if he suspected someone behind the incident.
Mayor Tajanlangit, meanwhile, confirmed that all three vehicles were bought before they entered politics.
As of this writing, the cause of the blaze was still under investigation.
“Kadya wara pa gid kami ti idea kay sa tulad kadya naga-conduct kami sang maid-id nga investigation para maman-an gid kon ano ang kabangdanan sang sunog,” said Fire Officer 2 Carlos T. Montenegro Jr. of the BFP-Tobias Fornier./PN
