4 people killed in North Cotabato fire

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines –Four people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in a fire that engulfed an old  house  in a remote village in Arakan town in North Cotabato, fire officials said.

Arakan fire chief Sr. Fire Officer Ronald Valle identified the victims as Ronnie Montesser, 44, his pregnant daughter Mary Jean, her live-in partner Rainheart Carugda and Montesser’s granddaughter Andrea,1.

Valle said the fire started at 1:45 a.m. while all the victims were fast asleep.

Valle said the four were burned beyond recognition.

The fire quickly engulfed the 2-story old house made of wood and light materials.  A motorcycle parked inside the house also contributed in the quick spread of fire, arson investigators said.

Valle placed the cost of damage at about P70,000.

It was the second fire to hit Arakan, an upland town in the borders of North Cotabato, Bukidnon and Davao City this month. March is marked each year as “fire prevention month.”

On Mach 1, a fire also destroyed some P5 million worth of oil palm in Arakan.

Also on Tuesday, four fires were reported in Kabacan, North Cotabato, including the one that hit the canteen of the state-run University of Southern Mindanao (USM) and a pharmacy at about 9 p.m.

Jhong Raagas, owner of 386 Pharmacy along Rizal Street, Kabacan, North Cotabato, said the erratic power supply from the local electric cooperative could have triggered the fire in his pharmacy.

Raagas said about P3 million worth of medical supplies were destroyed in the fire. /muf