MANILA, Philippines – The eight-hour long massive fire that engulfed the historic Manila Central Post Office incurred damage worth an initial estimate of P300 million, although assessment is still ongoing.
The 97-year-old historic building caught fire late last night, requiring 80 firetrucks to respond to the situation. It took over eight hours—with the fire starting at 11:41 p.m. Sunday evening—for the situation to be declared as under control at around 7 a.m. on Monday, Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan in a brief statement on Monday afternoon.
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“According to [Bureau of Fire Protection Chief Superintendent Nahum] Tarroza, the fire caused major damage or total damage to the Manila Central Post Office… their initial estimate of the fire damage reached P300 million,” Lacuna-Pangan said.
Mapping operations continue as of her 3 p.m. update as firefighters ensure that all flames have been put out.
Employees of the Manila Central Post Office will temporarily be working at an office near Del Pan as authorities and the local government restore their central office.
“Employees have already identified a place to work, this would be their Foreign Mail Distribution Center along Del Pan so hopefully they would be able to continue all of their work in the coming days,” Lacuna-Pangan said.
Lacuna-Pangan also clarified that the Manila Central Post Office has already been declared an “important cultural property,” therefore no other buildings or establishments will be built in its place aside from the post office.
She added that the local government will be working with national authorities to ensure the Manila Central Post Office will be restored.
Only Manila-bound national IDs affected
In a separate statement, the Philippine Statistics Authority clarified that only the PhilIDs for delivery in Manila were affected by the fire.
"National ID" was one of the trending topics on Twitter on Monday, following the fire, as social media users raised fear over their IDs that may have been affected by the fire.
The PSA clarified that PhilIDs are sorted and stored at the Philippine Postal Corp. Central Mail Exchange Center in Pasay.
However, the PHLPost is still accounting for how many PhilIDs for delivery in Manila were affected as the PSA said it will replace all IDs without charging registered persons. — Kaycee Valmonte