4 dead, 3 injured in Naga, Bacolod fires

MANILA, Philippines - Four people were killed and three others sustained serious injuries in fires that gutted a two-story house in Naga City, Camarines Sur and a residential building in Bacolod City, authorities said.

Fatalities in the Naga blaze before dawn yesterday were identified as Ma-ria Cristina Reis, 19, a college student, and Aida Ausin, 68, who were both trapped in a room on the second floor of a semi-concrete house in Barangay Peñafrancia.

Three occupants on the ground floor – Geraldine Nelcoma, 18, and couple Jeffrey and Lenea Villagomez – suffered third-degree burns.

In Bacolod City, an unattended lighted cigarette was blamed for the fire that gutted a two-story residential building that left two persons dead, identified as Philip Aldore Martinez, 36, and Adrian Morin, 12.

Meanwhile, authorities were still probing the cause of the fire that gutted the office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the adjoining municipal health center and old town hall in Maasim, Sarangani before dawn yesterday.

The fire, according to reports, started at around 3:30 a.m. yesterday at the Comelec office and quickly spread to the adjacent buildings.

Fire trucks from Kiamba town and General Santos City, 37 kilometers away from the Maasim town center, arrived at around 4:15 a.m., getting help from the Army’s 73rd Infantry Brigade, barangay defense force and civilian auxiliaries.

Destroyed at the old town hall, which was built 38 years old and where several municipal departments still hold office despite the new town hall, were civil service records and documents on the unconsumed leaves for monetization and other earned benefits of municipal employees.

Despite the fire, the municipal employees led by Mayor Jose Zamorro proceeded with the 7:30 a.m. flag-raising ceremony.

“The more we (need to) unite as we are being challenged by this incident,” said Zamorro. – Cet Dematera, Danny Dangcalan, Nonong Baliao and Edith Regalado