BACOLOD City – Half a million pesos worth of properties went up in smoke when a fire struck a house in Sagay City, Negros Occidental, arson investigators said.
The 63-year-old Virginia Vaflor Hortinela owned the house in Purok Mahirup, Barangay Paraiso.
Upon learning about the blaze at around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Barangay Captain Pete Flores called a fire truck from the nearby Lopez Sugar Corp. and the Bureau of Fire Protection – Sagay City.
Prior to the fire, Hortinela’s daughter-in-law saw an electrical socket installed next to their main wooden-panel door spark, investigation by the Fire bureau showed.
Arson investigators pegged the cost of damage at P500,000.
Flores, also an anchorman for the dyAG radio in Sagay City – via his program “Mr. Public Service” – appealed to the public to help his affected constituents./PN