Fire destroys school, spares historic Aguinaldo office

CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan—A six-hour fire believed caused by faulty electrical wiring on Friday gutted the 77-year-old Immaculate Conception School for Boys here but spared the adjacent Convent of the Malolos Cathedral, which had served as the office of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo shortly after the proclamation of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898.

Aguinaldo had stayed here to witness the passage and ratification of the Malolos Constitution at the nearby Barasoain Church on Sept. 15, 1898.

The fire gutted the school’s wooden classrooms and half of a new concrete building before firemen put out the blaze.

No one was reported hurt.

Insp. Jaime Robles, Malolos fire officer, said the authorities had yet to determine the cause of the fire, which took place a day after the city celebrated the country’s 116th Independence Day.

Witnesses reported seeing sparks from power lines near the school.

But Msgr. Pablo Legaspi, the school’s rector, said the fire could not have been triggered by faulty wiring because school managers routinely shut down the facility’s power system. He said they also had rewired the place.

Robles estimated the damage at P20 million.

The school has 1,600 students in the elementary and high school levels.

Legaspi said grade school classes would be temporarily held at the Barasoain Church convent.