Aid for couple who lost kids in blaze

FINANCIAL assistance will be given to the couple whose children died in a fire that razed their home in barangay Sam-ang, Toledo City at past 10 p.m last Friday.

Vice Mayor Arlene Zambo said they provided two coffins for the children and their City Social Welfare and Development Office will come out with the amount to be given to the Borgador couple.

“Very tragic… in a way the parents are responsible for what happened,” Zambo said.

Two-year-old Alexander Borgador Jr. and his five-year-old brother Harvey were trapped inside their house as a fire swept their home.

Their parents stepped out to continue a domestic argument and didn’t know about the fire until neighbors told them their house was in flames. The children were left sleeping at the time.

Alexander Borgador and his wife Geovelyn argued over plans to expand their home.

The father went out to buy coconut wine known as tuba at a downhill store 50 meters away.

The Toledo City fire station said a cat or dog may have pushed aside a kerosene lamp which tumbled on the floor and caused the fire to spread.

Geovelyn locked the door which the children were unable to open.

The fire station located nine kilometers away received the alarm at at 10:15 p.m.

By the time they arrived, they only found the charred remains of the children and embers of the still burning house.

The children were found near the door of the house, indicating that they had tried but failed to open it. Property damage was pegged at P20,000. Correspondents Carmel Loise Matus and Rhea Ruth V. Rosell