NEWSBRIEFS

NORTH COTABATO

3 killed in accident

Three persons, who had attended the wake of a friend, were killed when the motorcycle they were riding home was side-swiped by a still undetermined type of vehicle in Aleosan, North Cotabato province, on Saturday dawn, the police said.

Senior Insp. Zian Paul Cubil, Aleosan police chief, said Noli Catulong, Delmer Vios and Delbert Vios, all residents of Midsayap, North Cotabato, died instantly when their motorcycle was hit by a vehicle about 1 a.m.

Cubil said the three victims were dragged some 200 meters away from where they met the accident, which indicated that the driver of the other vehicle did not mind the victims. “Based on the skid marks, the other vehicle involved was heading toward the same direction as the victims,” he said. Williamor Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL

Robbers take P2M

Unidentified robbers took about P2 million from the Treasurer’s Office in the Escalante City Hall in Negros Occidental province, the police said on Monday.

Supt. Leo T. Batiles, Escalante City police chief, however, said they could not determine the exact time when the robbery occurred as the incident was discovered by the janitor, whose name he withheld, only about 3:40 p.m. on Sunday.

“The janitor said he found the steel vault’s door destroyed only when he went to the office to clean it. The personnel from the Commission on Elections located beside it said they did not notice anything prior to the discovery of the incident, Batiles said. He said their investigation showed that the main door of the office was not locked since Friday because the janitor would go inside to clean it, but the janitor said he failed to report for duty that day. The police are looking into the possibility of an inside job. Carla Gomez, Inquirer Visayas

LUCENA CITY

Fire hits residential area

An hour-and-a-half fire, allegedly caused by a mentally disturbed person, broke out in a residential neighborhood here, noontime on Friday, police said.

Supt. Allen Rae Co, Lucena police chief, said the fire razed six houses along P. Gomez Street, including the one-story wooden ancestral house of the Maaño clan, owned by the family of the wife of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala.

Co pointed to Emelito Maaño, whom relatives said was in his 50s, as the one behind the fire that started at 12:15 p.m. in Barangay (village) 2. Emelito was also one of the residents of the Maaño old house occupied by the distant relatives of Alcala’s wife.

Emelito admitted pouring gas on the house and mumbled incoherent words during the police interrogation. No one was hurt in the fire but two gravestone shops were also burned down. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon