Fire averted at new City Hall Legislative Building

CEBU, Philippines – The newly renovated Legislative Building of the Cebu City Hall was nearly destroyed by a fire yesterday morning after a city employee carelessly disposed of a cigarette butt into a garbage chute without stubbing it out.

The chute is connected from the fourth floor to the ground floor where a garbage receptacle is installed.

But instead of the still lit cigarette butt going directly down into the receptacle, it got caught up with a bunch of garbage that was stuck up inside the chute in between the third and second floors, according to Engr. Emiliano Cruz, building administrator.

“Grabeha. Na-tuck-up ang lungag kay dunay mga bagon (vines) nga giapil paglabay sa daghan kaayong mga bundle sa papel,” he said.

Though Cruz did not directly blame the personnel of Councilor Augustus Pe, Jr. for the garbage but it was found out that the office of Pe used vines for decors last Christmas.

Further, the name of the councilor was also found on the bundles of papers.

However, Cruz said that it would be difficult to identify the person who disposed of the cigarette butt.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the legislative building might have been lacking in fire safety measures and equipment and that this should be looked into immediately.

No major damage was caused by the incident, but some of the documents in nearby offices got soaked when firefighters sprayed water into the chute. — Rene U. Borromeo/MEEV  (THE FREEMAN)