2 alleged NPA rebels slain in Quezon, Occidental Mindoro encounters. FILES
LUCENA CITY – A fire of still unknown origin gutted parts of the municipal hall of Mulanay town in Quezon province early Saturday, August 30, police said.
In an initial report, Quezon police said the blaze started at around 2:20 a.m. and razed the offices of the Commission on Elections, tourism, public information, and several other departments.
The fire also destroyed documents, office equipment, and other materials.
Local police, whose headquarters are also located in the municipal hall compound, evacuated “four persons under police custody” to safety, along with records and firearms.
READ: Fire razes 10 houses in Lucena City
No one was injured during the blaze that was declared fire out at 6:15 a.m., the police said.
Councilor Gelo Amisola, former Mulanay public information officer, expressed sadness at the fate of his former office.
He described the Public Information Office as “small but the liveliest office” in the municipal hall.
“Here we stay busy producing live podcasts, handling post-video production, voice recordings, content writing, and drafting press releases that we immediately send out to various media networks — always a race against time just to make it into primetime newscasts,” Amisola said in a nostalgic post in Filipino on his Facebook page.
Authorities were yet to determine the cause of the blaze and the damage it cost to properties, the report said. /jpv
