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Friday, July 27, 2007
Fire hits appellate court building
* Burgos case hearing to proceed despite incident
MANILA -- A joint birthday celebration of four Court of Appeals (CA) magistrates on Thursday ended up literally in smoke when fire broke out in the fourth floor of the main building where the event was held.
No one was reported hurt in the blaze, which started in the office of Associate Justice Edgardo Sundiam at about 12:35 p.m. It reached the fifth alarm before it was put out at 1:48 p.m.
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Manila fire marshal Pablito Cordeta said an employee of Sundiam claimed the air conditioner in their office broke down prior to the fire.
At that time, Sundiam and most justices of the CA were reportedly having lunch at the conference hall to celebrate the birthdays of Associate Justices Mariflor Castillo, Amelita Tolentino, Magdangal de Leon, and Bienvenido Reyes.
They only became aware of the situation when several people noticed thick smoke coming out of the ceiling. The smoke immediately spread to adjacent rooms.
Cordeta said they have yet to quantify the extent of damage caused by the blaze, but fire investigators said what was destroyed was mostly papers and other court documents.
About eight fire trucks responded to the fire alarm, some coming from volunteer firefighting teams in the cities of Paranaque, Makati, and Quezon. Due to the emergency, CA employees were advised to go home early.
Despite the fire, a court official said Friday's scheduled hearing on the disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos will proceed as scheduled. The session hall of the Eighth Division, where the hearing would take place, is located in another building.
Expected to attend the hearing are officials of the military and police, who were issued with a writ of habeas corpus by the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday to produce Burgos during the hearing at the CA.
Burgos was abducted last April 28 by unidentified armed persons, believed to be agents of the military, while having his lunch at a restaurant in Ever Gotesco mall in Quezon City, prompting his mother, Edita, to seek a writ from the SC. (ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Davao. (July 27, 2007 issue)
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