Two siblings were killed in a fire reportedly caused by a lit cigarette in a slum area in Novaliches, Quezon City, past midnight on Tuesday. Three others were injured when the blaze broke out at 12:20 a.m. in Julieta Laton’s house on Margarita Street in Barangay Gulod, Nitang Avenue, according to city fire marshal Supt. Jesus Fernandez. Michelle Perez, 20, and her brother Reymel, 18, who lived in the house next to Laton’s, were killed, Fernandez said in a phone interview. The injured were identified as Rose Ann Cervano, 24, who suffered a cut; Elena Cabrera, 64, who sustained burns on her neck, and Rosalie Sebrano, 43, who fractured her ankles. “The fire spread quickly, razing 12 houses in an hour,” Fernandez said. A total of 20 families were affected while the damage to property was estimated at P200,000. Fernandez said they have yet to talk to Laton’s son, Ramon, 31, who went into hiding after the fire. According to Laton, her son was smoking in his room before the blaze began. Meanwhile, another fire broke out at 12:22 a.m. on Tuesday on Dama de Noche Street in Barangay Payatas, also in Quezon City, damaging the house of Eugenio Goyal. It was put out 22 minutes later and did not spread to other houses. Investigators said that the fire was caused by a jumper. Rima Granali
From Manila’s Finest to ‘most wanted’: Ex-cop charged for robbing Taiwanese tourists
A former Manila policeman—tagged as the city’s most wanted man and the third most wanted criminal in Metro Manila before his arrest last year—has been charged in court for robbing Taiwanese tourists of P65,000 in Ermita, Manila. Reggie Dominguez, who held the rank of police officer 1 before his dismissal from the service in November 2011 for being absent without official leave, was charged with robbery based on the complaint of spouses Mou Wen and Hsu Chia-Lin. His accomplices PO1 Vincent Paul Medina of the Gagalangin police community precinct and Dominguez’s cousin, Bam-Bam Valbuena, were also charged. Dominguez was arrested by fellow policemen on July 7, 2014, for his involvement in several cases of robbery-extortion involving foreign tourists, including a Japanese, an American and a Lebanese. Valbuena, on the other hand, was arrested for illegal possession of firearms while Medina has not reported for work since June 2014, the Manila Police District’s General Assignment and Investigation Section said in a report. In the case filed recently in the Manila Regional Trial Court, the Taiwanese couple said they were walking on UN Avenue corner Ma. Orosa Street on June 28, 2014, around noon when the accused accosted them and asked for their passports. They were made to get into the accused’s gray car where they were handcuffed and divested of their valuables. The couple said they were driven around the city before they were released on Roxas Boulevard. They later identified the suspects through police file photos. Erika Sauler