Bacolod’s first mayor dies in fire

BACOLOD CITY — This city’s first elected mayor died in a fire that struck his residence here at about 6 p.m. last Tuesday.

Felix Palcorin Amante, 93, whose house along Tana Dicang street was partially burned, was declared dead on arrival at the Riverside Medical Center.

He succumbed to respiratory arrest secondary to asphyxia, and sustained second-degree burns in several parts of his body.

The fire, believed caused by faulty electrical wiring, started from the bedroom of his grandson, Felix Eduard, at the second level of the two-story Amante residence, said Senior Inspector Jerry Candido, city fire marshal.

Firemen, who broke into Amante’s bedroom through the window, found him lying face down beside his bed, indicating he might have tried to escape. Candido said his pulse could still be felt when he was found.

Amante’s wife, Adela, was watching TV when the fire broke out.

Amante was also a former congressman and served as governor of Negros Occidental from Sept. 16, 1953 to June 6, 1954.

Before his death, Amante was the oldest surviving alumnus of the Negros Occidental High School, one of the oldest secondary schools in the country. — Antonieta Lopez