Apartment gutted by fire; damage pegged at P150T

CEBU, Philippines - A three-storey apartment building was gutted by fire yesterday morning in Barangay Sambag II, leaving an estimated structural damage of P150,000.

The 53-year-old apartment in Sitio Tambis is owned by Tony Allego. Senior Fire Officer 4 Jovito Abelgas said they received the fire alarm at 3:20 a.m. and was declared under control 30 minutes later.

Initial investigation revealed that the fire started on the second floor and quickly engulfed the entire building.

Japee Africa, one of the tenants, said he noticed the smoke bellowing from the second floor and quickly called for help.

Abelgas said the cause of fire is still under investigation, but he surmised that it could be the old electrical wirings of the building since it was built in 1962. It is the ancestral house of Allego but was converted into an apartment building.

Allego's daughter said she had a premonition Monday night that something bad would happen.

According to her, she felt uneasy on that night prompting her to call her father before midnight to check on him. Since she lives in Pardo, the daughter decided to come over to stay with her father in the apartment on that night.

She said they had just fallen asleep but the noise woke her up.

"Pwerting tuloga niya, maayo gani nakamata ko. Pag-abli nako sa pultahan dinaganay na'ng mga tawo," she added.

The Department of Social Welfare and Services has provided food packs to the fire victims.

DSWS head Ester Concha said that her personnel are validating the names of the fire victims for financial assistance.

Owners of totally damaged houses will receive P10, 000 while those partially damaged will get P5, 000.

Meanwhile, Cebu City officials admitted having a hard time monitoring if boarding houses and apartments are complying with business and building permits.

Lawyer Jose Marie Poblete, chief of the Office of the Building Official, said his office cannot monitor all the buildings in the city.

"Maong atong i-invoke ang help sa barangay officials kay sila ang nakahibaw kun nag-exist nga building, in fact, naa poy mga constructions nga dili daplin sa dalan maong maglisod ta," he said.

Monina Paires, head of the tax mapping division of the City Treasurer's Office, said that the owner of the apartment has not registered its business.

"Pero usahay naay uban nga under sa corporation. Pero base sa name, wala siya sa tax mapping," she said.

"Lisod ang apartment ug boarding house kay dili mo-cooperate ang owners. Bisag naay i-report, dili gihapon kay wala igong evidence. Naay uban man gud nga moingon nga parente ra nila ang gapuyo," she added.

Poblete also admitted that there are many buildings in the city that do not have permits.

"Ato sang klarohon kun nasunog nga wala’y permit or nasunog tungod sa kadanghag. As a regulatory office, we will continue to monitor sa buildings nga wala’y permits," he said, adding that there are buildings built before the building code was promulgated.

Poblete said that OBO does not have police power to enforce the law. However, he said that his office will resort to suing structure owners if they will not comply with the requirements of the business permits.— (FREEMAN)