MetroBriefs: Marikina fire kills 1

Instant millionaire from Manila slums

A LABORER who won half of the P13 million jackpot in last week’s 6/42 Lotto draw said that the winning numbers came to him in a dream. Claiming his prize on Tuesday, the 47-year-old father of four told Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Vice Chair and General Manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II that he bought just one ticket and picked his birth date and the numbers that appeared in his dream. His decade-long habit of buying a lotto ticket finally paid off as he became one of two bettors to pick the winning combination —02-08-19-21-31-42—in the March 3 draw, earning half of the P13,078,736 jackpot. Rojas said the instant millionaire, whose family rents a house in a slum area in Manila, was the eighth lotto player to win and claim the prize this year. Jovic Yee

Marikina fire kills 1

A BEAUTICIAN who had just started working in a salon was killed when a fire destroyed her shop and several other establishments in a market area in Marikina City before dawn Wednesday. Supt. Edwin Vargas, Marikina  fire chief, said Rebecca Destajo, 54, was sleeping in the salon located in the flea market at the corner of B.G. Molina and E. Rodriguez Streets in Barangay Parang, when it burned down. The victim had just started working there the previous day. A total of 15 structures, including a house, were destroyed in the half-hour fire that started at 3:10 a.m. Jovic Yee