4 hurt in Makati house fire

Four people were injured, including a firefighter, after a fire gutted a large two-story house made of light materials in Makati City on Tuesday.

Roberto Alba, 60, wounded his hand while his wife Evangeline dislocated her right foot when they jumped from the second floor of the 600-sq-m house at 7795 Saint Paul St. in Barangay (village) San Antonio when it started burning around 1 a.m. Another resident, Ramon de Llumos, 40, suffered a minor cut on his left foot while a fireman, SFO3 Elpidio Iguid, also sustained a cut on his middle finger.

Makati fire marshal Ricardo Perdigon said the blaze started on the second story of the house which had been divided into 29 rooms that were being rented out.

At the time of the fire, all the rooms were occupied although authorities have yet to determine the number of tenants.

Perdigon said that their response and rescue operations were hampered by the numerous electrical wires along the narrow alleys leading to the house.

“Most of those injured sustained their injuries because they jumped into the creek behind the burning [house] or the houses beside it,” Perdigon added.

The fire which lasted for about an hour damaged an estimated P500,000-worth of property but the city fire marshal said that they have yet to determine what caused the blaze. Maricar B. Brizuela

Manila papal events generate 1,133 tons of trash

In addition to the 138 tons or 23 truckloads of garbage collected by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority during the Pope’s four-day visit to Manila, over 1,000 tons of trash—or an average of 40 truckloads per day—were collected by the city government, a local official said on Tuesday.

Belle Borromeo, head of Manila City Hall’s Department of Public Service, gave a daily breakdown of the total garbage collected from the sites of papal events as well as from roads on the papal convoy’s routes: on Jan. 15, 42 truckloads or 142.34 tons; Jan. 16, 34 truckloads or 203.85 tons; Jan. 17, 40 truckloads or 252.42 tons; Jan. 18, 39 truckloads or 311.14 tons; and Jan. 19, 31 truckloads or 224.14 tons. A total of 1,133 tons of trash were collected throughout the four-day papal visit. The garbage gathered on Jan. 19 was the combined amount from the University of Santo Tomas and Rizal Park, said Borromeo. She added that most of the waste consisted of Styrofoam containers, plastic bags, plastic cups and barbecue sticks. In Rizal Park and at the Quirino Grandstand, what they found were mostly candy and biscuit wrappers, egg shells, mineral water bottles, bags of chips and torn garbage bags used as raincoats, said Borromeo. On a normal day, Borromeo said the city government collects an average of 2,000 tons of garbage, or 450 truckloads, from its six districts. Annelle Tayao-Juego

Garbage scavenger shot in the head

A garbage scavenger was wounded after she was shot in the head by an unidentified suspect Tuesday in Marikina City.

The police said that Milagros Manalac had just left her house on Malunggay Street in Barangay Tumana, which she shared with her niece, at 2:30 a.m. to look for recyclable items she could sell when she was shot. She was later found on the road and taken to a hospital.

Two casings from a cal. 22. revolver were also found at the scene. Insp. Sanny Cortez, Marikina Police Community Precinct 3 station commander, said that they had yet to determine why she was shot. Jovic Yee