NEWSBRIEFS

Fire razes 100 houses

A fire gutted about 100 houses and structures in Barangay (village) Bagua Mother, including a mosque, early yesterday.

Three firefighters were injured, City Fire Marshal Guiamad Adam said. Volunteers and firefighters from nearby areas helped put out the fire at about 10 a.m., he said.

Adam said an appliance left unplugged by its owner might have overheated and triggered the fire. Charlie C. Señase and Edwin O. Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao

DAVAO DEL SUR

Man slain over debt

A man who borrowed P500 from a neighbor in Malita town ended up dead on Sunday after he was attacked by his creditor with a machete, police said.

Lidas Opong, 60, of Barangay (village) Danwata was killed during a tussle with Cavelino Mallada, 25, Senior Superintendent Ronaldo Llanera, provincial police director, said.

Mallada earlier went to Opong’s house to collect a four-year-old debt but instead of getting paid, he was hacked, Llanera said. He said Mallada was able to wrestle the machete during the scuffle and slit Opong’s throat.

The suspect, Llanera said, surrendered to the police. Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao

BULACAN

Truck hits judge

A Municipal Trial Court judge was hit by a truck while crossing the San Jose-Bocaue North Road in Barangay San Gabriel in Sta. Maria town on Tuesday.

Doctors are trying to save the right eye of Judge Pelagia Joaquin of Barangay (village) Camangyanan.

Superintendent Leilene Amparo, municipal police chief, said the truck driver, identified as Delio Santiago, would be charged with reckless imprudence resulting in serious physical injuries. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon

ANGELES CITY

Deadly heart attack

A Canadian tourist died from an apparent heart attack inside a night bar on Fields Avenue here on Friday, three days after an Austrian leapt from the rooftop of a seven-story hotel in Malabanias village, also in this city.

Stephen Edward Dooley, 53, was accompanied by a woman to the Road House Bar at 6:40 p.m. when he collapsed, police said. He was brought to Angeles University Foundation Medical Center where he died.

Police identified the Austrian tourist who jumped to his death on February 7 as Norbert Walser, 75, who used the name “Tom Miller” when he registered at Grand View Tower Hotel.

Walser used his true identity when he booked at the nearby Clarkton Hotel. The hotel staff told the police that they were looking for the Austrian when he failed to return to his room for two days. Jun Malig, Inquirer Central Luzon

CATBALOGAN CITY

Girl found dead

A 7-year-old girl reported missing on Friday was found dead and believed to have been raped near her classroom in a public elementary school in the city early Sunday.

The girl was last seen playing with some of her school mates at Catbalogan II Elementary School in Barangay (village) Guinapondan. Her parents went to the police at 9 p.m. on Friday to report her missing.

On Sunday, at around 1 p.m., the girl was found lying face down with her short pants lowered down to her knees just at the back of her classroom.

“We have now the lead as to who could be responsible for this brutal slaying of the girl,” Superintendent Avelino Doncillo, city police chief, said in a phone interview. Joey Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas