By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

A FORMER security guard who was ordered to leave the CNMI and was trying to get a repatriation ticket set himself on fire in the hallway of the Department of Labor yesterday morning, setting off a fire alarm that led to the evacuation of personnel and their clients.
It was the first time that an incident like this has happened at the Labor office.
Buddhie Lal Dhimal, 49, was a security guard at L&T International Corp. up to Aug. 19, 2005 before he was illegally employed by Lucky Security Service from Nov. 2005 to Jan. 2006.
Yesterday, he poured a flammable liquid on himself and used a lighter to set it on fire after getting the attention of the labor investigator handling his labor case at around 8:45 a.m.
“He was heard saying he didn’t have anything to eat anymore, moments before setting himself on fire. It was scary for a lot of people in the building,” said one of the tenants in the Afetnas Building which houses the Labor and Division of Immigration offices.
Dhimal sustained second and third-degree burns on his body and was rushed to the Commonwealth Health Center, according to Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lei Ogumoro.
No other person was seriously hurt in the incident apart from the minor bruises sustained by one of the labor investigators who helped put out the fire before emergency medical service and fire personnel arrived at the scene.
Labor Secretary Gil M. San Nicolas said he would ask the Department of Public Safety if police officers could be detailed temporarily at Labor to make sure that people coming to the office do not have any contraband like flammable liquids, lighters, guns or other weapons that may harm personnel and clients.
He recognized, however, that Labor — just like any other government agency — is in financial crisis and can’t afford to hire a private security firm to guard the premises.
“But I cannot compromise safety…In my 19 years here at Labor, this is the first time that something like this has happened. I am not going to take this lightly and wait until something happens again,” San Nicolas said.
Labor and Immigration services were disrupted yesterday due to the fire and the evacuation of the building.
San Nicolas ordered a temporary closure of the Labor office until 12 noon. Labor reopenned at 1 p.m. yesterday.
DPS’s Ogumoro, in a report yesterday afternoon, said the man, “after learning that he was to be deported to his place of origin…became disgruntled and set himself on fire.”
“An investigation showed that the person had a bottle of flammable liquid and a cigarette lighter which he used to set himself on fire,” said Ogumoro.
The police are investigating the incident.
‘We saved his life’
The incident happened in a hallway outside the Labor Enforcement Section office on the second floor of the Afetnas Building, next to the Immigration office.
San Nicolas said Dhimal went to see labor investigator Jeffrey Camacho regarding a repatriation ticket around 8:45 a.m.
“When he entered the door, he called Jeff but Jeff felt uncomfortable. When Jeff went out into the hallway, Mr. Dhimal poured what appeared to be gasoline on himself and then lit it on fire,” said San Nicolas.
The police have yet to determine whether the fluid was lighter fluid, charcoal lighter or gasoline.
He said Labor personnel were concerned that Dhimal might also splash them with a flammable liquid and then set them on fire too.
“That didn’t happen but the point here is that they were uncomfortable because his behavior was hostile, kind of angry at something,” said San Nicolas.
Despite their concerns, Camacho and a fellow labor investigator, Frank Aguon, and other labor personnel immediately came to Dhimal’s rescue when he was engulfed in the flames.
San Nicolas said Aguon tried to bring Dhimal down and cover him in order to put out the fire. Ray Quichocho, another Labor employee, used a bag while Aguon went to get the fire extinguisher.
“Labor personnel basically saved his life,” said San Nicolas.
Ray Guerrero, from the CNMI OSHA Consultation Program Office, said the fire activated the fire alarm system in the building.
“Standard procedure requires that, once the alarm is activated, people evacuate the building and they did,” Guerrero said.
He said Dhimal “was in much pain.”
“I saw him…he was rolling on the floor while we were getting the fire extinguisher…He was shouting. The guy was in so much pain,” said Guerrero.
Manny Domingo, a Labor employee, said he and his colleagues could see the blaze from across the hall and thought it was “an electrical fire.”
Domingo, Israel Deleon Guerrero and other Labor personnel were wearing gas masks to protect themselves from the fumes which were still lingering on the second floor of the building by 11 a.m. Personnel were seen cleaning the hallway after the incident.
“It was scary, with recent shooting incidents in the news. I thought the man had a gun,” another Labor employee said.
Arrested, ordered to depart NMI
Labor Hearing Officer Jerry Cody ordered Dhimal to depart the CNMI no later than 30 days from the date of the Dec. 18, 2006 order he issued for engaging in unlawful employment with Osman Gani doing business as Lucky Security Service.
In that order, Cody ordered the former employer of record, L&T International Corp., to provide a repatriation ticket for complainant’s departure to his original point of hire.
The labor hearing officer also asked the director of Labor to assist in obtaining a repatriation airline ticket from L&T International Corp.
It was not known what took so long for Dhimal to finally get a ticket.
Moreover, Cody said in his five-page order in December that as it anticipated that Lucky Security Service would not pay the award of $2,024.08 to Dhimal for back wages, unpaid overtime and liquidated damages, Dhimal could make application under Public Law 11-66 for the recovery of this award.
“In that event, the Collections Unit is requested to assist complainant in obtaining any funds available under Public Law 11-66 for satisfaction of this award,” said Cody.
Dhimal previously worked as a security guard at L&T International Corp. under a nonresident worker permit that expired on Aug. 19, 2005. He failed to find a transfer employer after the 45-day deadline, by Oct. 2, 2005.
After the deadline passed, Dhimal approached the office of the director of Labor requesting an extension. No extension was granted pursuant to regulations.
In early November 2005, Dhimal approached Osman Gani doing business as Lucky Security Service and the company employed Dhimal as a security guard at the Cha Cha Junior High School in Kagman from Nov. 5, 2005 to Jan. 17, 2006.
On Jan. 17, immigration officers arrested Dhimal at the work site for working without a permit and remaining in the CNMI without lawful status.
“The parties had no permit or authorization for the above-noted employment. Therefore, the employment was in violation of the Nonresident Workers Act…” said Cody.
Subsequent to Dhimal’s arrest, the Attorney General’s Office had granted Dhimal six additional months in 2006 to find a new employer but he failed to find one.
San Nicolas yesterday said the administrative order stands, and Dhimal did not file an appeal.
“The best thing we could do is to help him with his repatriation ticket,” said San Nicolas.