Tondo fire kills 2 kids

Two children died during a 10-hour fire that raged through a thickly populated residential area in Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila.

Reports reaching the Manila Fire Department identified the victims as Judyne Fernan, six years old and her brother Jefel Fernan, five years old.

Fire Officer 2 Oscar Ropero, arson investigator, said the charred remains of the victims were only discovered by their father Leonardo Fernando, 38, a pedicab driver, at about noontime yesterday, as he looked around the ruins of his shanty.

Ropero said that the young victims were found, where their shanty used to be, at 695 Interior 11, Laguna Extension, in a tight embrace.

According to Ropero, the victims’ mother, Prescilla, 29, thought that her children had managed to get out safely from their burning shanty when the fire of still unknown origin broke out at about 8:10 p.m. last Friday.

Leonardo was not home when the fire started at their neighbor’s house at 645-G, Interior 11 Laguna Extension.

The blaze quickly swept through at least 300 houses and left at least 500 families homeless in barangays 152, 163 and 218.

Investigators said the fire which reached Task Force India, left at least P150 million in damages and drew firefighters from all points of the metropolis.

As with a similar fire in San Andres, Manila that razed at least 500 houses last March, firefighters rushing to contain the Tondo fire were also hampered by narrow alleys.

The fire was contained only at about 6:44 a.m.

Meanwhile in Quezon City, operatives of the Central Police District (CPD) arrested eight suspected drug dependents, including a teenage boy, in a series of anti-illegal drug raids.

Arrested were Alicia Tolentino, 39; Muslim Urbano, 39; Merlinda Enova, 38; Christopher Quindara, 33; Heraldo Moresco, 31; Arnold Ordez, 20; Efren Biagtan and the boy. All the suspects are residents of Quezon City.

Superintendent Ronaldo Mendoza, acting chief of the CPD-Drug Enforcement Group, said the suspects were apprehended during raids conducted from July 21 to 27 in Novaliches, Commonwealth and Bago Bantay. They were all caught sniffing shabu.

Mendoza said his men confiscated shabu with a street value of P2,500 from the suspects, who are now locked up at the DEG detention cell. The CPD filed charges of violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act against the suspects. – Mike Frialde and Cecille Suerte Felipe