DENR probing Land Management Bureau fire

RECORDS UP IN SMOKE Monday’s Binondo fire left an estimated P100 million in property damage. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu on Wednesday said he would look into media reports that arson may have caused Monday’s fire that gutted the seven-story Land Management Bureau (LMB) building in Binondo, Manila.

“While we hope that this is not the case, arson is a serious crime and the LMB fire significantly impacts Filipinos who place premium value on land,” Cimatu said.

The 22-hour fire destroyed the LMB building and damaged nearby structures, including the National Archives Office. Officials estimated the damage at P100 million, citing the LMB’s state-of-the-art records digitization equipment among the properties lost.

Cimatu said LMB and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) officials would work with arson investigators from the Manila fire district and National Bureau of Investigation to determine the cause of the fire which, according to reports, broke out on the upper floors of the LMB building.

The LMB has since set up a temporary help desk at the DENR main office in Quezon City.

DENR officials earlier said most of the land records destroyed in the fire were back-up documents of originals kept at LMB regional offices. —Melvin Gascon