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BY MERIANNE GRACE EREÑETA
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ILOILO – A 55-year-old man believed to have a nervous breakdown set on fire a motor repair shop in Oton town yesterday.
Alex Sobida poured gasoline over a car parked at the shop on Rizal Street, Barangay Poblacion West around 6:18 a.m. and lit it up.
He then poured gasoline all over the place and torched it, according to the Oton police station and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
Alan Clavel, 48, owned the shop. The burned car (plate number NCZ-616) was owned by Edward Gasambelo.
Upon seeing the burning car, 34-year-old Noel Mantos, who lives with Clavel, rushed to the shop to save some equipment.
Sobida saw Mantos and stabbed him, but the latter parried the attacks and only sustained bruises on the right side of the body, investigation showed.
Clavel said he was feeding his chickens at the back of the shop when he heard an explosion.
“Paglupok, dayon ko dalagan. Nasugata ko na sia (Sobida) gani. Ginhunusan niya pa ko gani sang kutsilyo, galing nagdukô lang ko kag nagderetso dalagan,” Clavel told Panay News. He was unharmed.
Sobida was also living with Clavel. His wife Arlyn’s siblings and Sobida, a native of Sominot, Zamboanga del Sur, were childhood friends.
“Wala kami nagbaisanay ukon ano a. Tingala lang ko nga gintutdan niya ang salakyan kag talyer,” Clavel said.
Police and fire investigators said Sobida may be holding a grudge against Clavel.
“May sikad na siya nga ginabyahe, tapos naguba. Te daw wala bala natagaan talupangod sang tag-iya sang shop,” Senior Fire Officer 4 Roberto Tamayo Jr., acting Oton fire marshal, told Panay News.
According to Clavel, sometime in 2005, Sobida asked to stay with them, but two years later he went to his siblings in Lanao City.
But his siblings did not want Sobida to stay with them, so he went back to Oton in 2014, Clavel told Panay News.
Despite rumors that Sobida has a nervous breakdown and sometimes harms other people, Clavel still allowed the former to stay with them.
“Gasalig man ko nga wala siya himuon (nga malain). Daw mag-utod na kami. Ambot ngaa amo na ginhimo niya,” said Clavel.
While firefighters were putting out the blaze, Sobida turned himself in to the Oton police station where he is currently detained.
The BFP will subject Sobida to tests to check his mental condition. He may face an arson charge, the bureau said.
Tamayo said nearby residents helped fight the fire. A “fire out” was declared around 6:21 a.m.
The cost of damage was pegged P100,000./PN
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