3 women dead, 3 others hurt in Makati fire

MANILA, Philippines - Three women were killed and three men were injured in an early morning fire that struck a two-story boarding house in Barangay Pio del Pilar in Makati City, Friday.

Senior Inspector Tito Purgatorio, chief of the Makati Fire Department’s Investigation and Intelligence Unit identified the fatalities as Elvie Longab Yagyaken, 48; her sister Adrian Longab, 36; and Elvie’s daughter Herzen Yagyaken, 20. The three were residents of Sto. Tomas Road, Baguio City.

Purgatorio said the bodies of the three women were badly charred. According to Puragatorio, Elvie was in Makati for a scheduled operation to receive a kidney to be donated by Adrian.

Purgatorio added that firefighters during the clearing operation, also recovered burnt cash amounting to P500,000. The money was turned over to barangay officials, said Purgatorio.

Those injured were identified as Romeo Guilmar, 21, who suffered third degree burns; Ryan Perez, 28, who sustained first-degree burns. The two were rushed to the Ospital ng Makati for emergency treatment. Another victim, Vicente Tan III suffered second-degree burns on his arms and was rushed to the Makati Medical Center for treatment.

According to the Makati Fire Department, the fire struck the two-storey boarding house along Santillan Street at about 2 a.m. and reached the 2nd alarm before it was put out by responding firefighters at about 4 a.m.

The Makati Fire Department said the boarding house is already old and was made of mostly wood. The fire did not spread to the adjacent houses, the fire department said.

Initial investigation points to an overheated electric fan as the suspected cause of the fire, the Makati Fire Department said.

According to the Makati Fire Department, the three dead women are from Baguio City and had been renting one of the rooms in the boarding house for the past month.

The three injured men were boarders of another room in the razed boarding house, Purgatorio said.