MANILA, Philippines — Fire broke out inside the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila on Monday.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said the fire was raised to the first alarm at 12:39 p.m., and extinguished at 12:42 p.m.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), in a statement, said none of its operations were affected as it only broke out on the sixth floor of the building occupied by the Bureau of Treasury.
Comelec only occupies the eighth and seventh floors of the building, and parts of the fifth and ground floors.
BFP’s initial report indicated the fire started at the Cooperative Office of the Bureau of Treasury.
To give way for the fire department’s further investigation and safety assessment, Comelec chairman George Garcia suspended work at all departments.
The poll body, however, said frontline services, such as issuing the Voter’s Registration Records and Certifications of the National Central File Division of the Election Records and Statistics Department located in Cabildo Street, would continue.
Fire also broke out inside the Palacio del Gobernador a year ago. It affected the building’s seventh-floor housing part of Comelec’s Information Technology Department.