Marikina fire kills 2 elderly brothers

A predawn fire in a Marikina City subdivision killed two elderly brothers Saturday.

Authorities said the bodies of Boy Pantig, 68, and his sibling Fernando, 74, were found in separate locations amid the charred ruins of their two-story house on Russet Street, SSS Village, in Barangay Concepcion 2.

The fire of still undetermined cause started engulfing the house around 2:40 a.m. as the middle-class neighborhood was asleep.

F01 Liezl Bosito, one of the first responders, said Boy’s body was found near the stairs while Fernando’s remains were recovered near the door leading to the living room.

Initial reports said Fernando was a former policeman and that the brothers were the only occupants of the house.

The fire reached second-level alarm and destroyed about three-fourths of house, which was made of wood and concrete, before it was declared out an hour later.  Kristine Felisse Mangunay