Fires raze mall, craft shop in south Metro

MANILA, Philippines - Fires broke out at a woodworking shop in Parañaque City before midnight Thursday and at a Pasay City mall yesterday morning.

Fire Officer 1 Diomat Bacarro said the fire, triggered by faulty electrical wiring, started at the storeroom of the Bayan Handicraft shop, owned by Antonio Ong, in a compound at the corner of Roxas Boulevard and MIA Road in Barangay Tambo at around 11:50 p.m. No one was injured in the fire, which was put out at 1:16 a.m. Damage to property was pegged at P200,000.

At about 10:10 a.m. yesterday, arson investigators said electrical overloading caused a fire that destroyed the Merwin Mart Commercial Shopping Center, owned by Chinese national Kaile Ming, in Baclaran. Firemen estimated the damage caused by the fire, which was put out at 11:45 a.m., to have reached P300,000.  – Mike Frialde, Rhodina Villanueva