Fire destroys 71-year-old house in Victorias City

BACOLOD — Fire destroyed the 71-year-old house of former Mayor Remedios Bantug, grandmother of 3rd District Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, in Victorias City, Negros Occidental on Sunday.

The two-story house, located on Quezon Street, was built by the former mayor and her husband, Abelardo de Leon Bantug, from 1947 to 1948 right after World War II, according to their son, businessman and sugar planter Reynaldo Bantug.

The house held a lot of memories for the family that they were planning to convert it into a museum, according to Bantug who was born there.

“We were thinking of turning the house into a museum,” he said, adding that “it was built of wood that is why the fire was quite fast, in about two hours it was gone.”

He said the greatest loss was the memorabilia of his family, which included the portraits of his parents and family pictures that are priceless.

The house also contained some expensive paintings, his mother’s silverware collection, and antique furniture. Hence, he said it is difficult to put a peso value on the loss.

No one was in the house at the time of the fire.

Fire Officer 1 Stephen Pedrajas said the fire started around 1:05 a.m. Initial investigation showed an electrical short circuit caused the fire.

Bantug said the family would push through with the plan to build the museum on the site of the old house. The heritage museum should have the character of the old house and Victorias as a whole, he said.

The children of Rosario and Abelardo Bantug include Abelardo Bantug Jr., Betty Benitez, Armita Rufino – president of the Philippine Heritage Foundation, Victoria Hoffarth, and Reynaldo and Cynthia Regino. /ee