A UTILITY clerk died and 15 others sustained burns during the fire that hit the old Municipal Trial Court (MTC) building in Minglanilla town, southern Cebu on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.
Mayor Rajiv Enad has ordered a thorough investigation to determine if somebody was involved in the incident.
The victim's family claimed that the 62-year-old deceased, (whose identity was withheld), had been employed by the MTC as utility clerk for quite a long time.
Glenn Antigua, the head of the Minglanilla Traffic Command (Mitcom), said the fire broke out inside the office of Judge Wilson Ibones. who at the time was performing a marriage ceremony for a foreign national and his Filipina wife.
The fire broke out at noon and was upgraded to a third alarm at 12:20 p.m. and totally extinguished after 35 minutes.
The old MTC building is occupied by Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO), Local Youth Development Office, Department of Interior and Local Government, Municipal Tourism Office (MTO), Senior Citizens Office, Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office and Philippine Post (Philpost).
Firefighters said that the fire, which caused P6,816,000 in property damage, also damaged the offices of Philpost, MTO and MSWDO.
As of this writing, Enad called for an emergency meeting with the different department heads and municipal councilors to discuss to next steps to be done in the wake of the fire.
Mayor Enad, however, promised to extend help to the fire victims. (With TPT)