JONG CADION
Chief of reporters
A pre-dawn fire engulfed a semi-concrete old building of the Pagadian City Junior College (PJC) High School, Jan. 10, and gutted two other adjoining residential buildings.
The building was said to have been sequestered and at present is under ownership by a local bank.
The two residential buildings also smoldered by the fire were owned by Carmen Pulmano de Dios and. Loreta Pulmano Castillo.
City Fire Marshal Christopher Morales said, quoting initial investigation that the fire started at the PJC’s Administration Building, located on the third floor, and then escalated to the whole edifice.
The admin building housed the principal’s, accounting and budget section and registrar’s offices.
The school caretaker, identified as Edwin Maghinay, whose quarters is on one of the rooms in the admin building, sustained minor burns on his ears and arms during the melee.
Maghinay said there were five other workers and a teacher lodging in the building when the fire occurred.
Another working student, who identified herself as Carmen Islit, told MINDANAO MONITOR, she was sleeping inside the canteen and was awakened by the heat and commotion.
The PJC fire is the second to hit Pagadian in 2009, and according to Morales, damages is estimated at P2.5 million.
In the morning of the New Year, a fire gutted a warehouse in Brgy. Lenienza owned by the Jabone family.
For the last quarter of 2008, only four fires occurred in the city, a two-notch drop compared to the same period in 2007, which is at six.