BFP probes 5 firefighter volunteers for looting

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January 29, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines —  Five firefighter volunteers are in hot water after they were recorded on video stealing bottles of liquor from a membership-only retail supermarket, which was razed by a fire in Quezon City yesterday.

In the video uploaded by Johnny Gaw Yu on Facebook, the firefighters were seen taking bottles of liquor from debris at the Landers superstore branch at the corner of Belfast Avenue and Quirino Highway.

The fire broke out at 4:44 a.m. and reached the fifth alarm before it was doused by firefighters at 10:48 a.m.

Supt. Anthony Arroyo, spokesman for the Bureau of Fire Protection, said the BFP launched an investigation to identify the firefighters who looted the supermarket.

Based on the fire suit worn by the firefighters, Arroyo said the people on the video are not from the BFP but from volunteer groups.

Arroyo said investigators are looking into volunteer groups listed at the incident command post to identify the looters.

There were about 30 volunteer groups that joined the BFP in extinguishing the Landers fire.

Arroyo said they would revoke the suspects’ certificates of competency as members of BFP-accredited fire brigades.

“It is up to Landers whether it will file criminal cases against the firefighter volunteers,” he said.

“We don’t tolerate looting during firefighting operations,” Arroyo said.