March 03, 2009 07:42 PM Tuesday [ journal.com.ph ]
By: Cesar Reyes
BAGUIO CITY -- A fire hit two old buildings of the Baguio City public market where the fruit and vegetable section was located at 2:46 a.m. on Monday.
Firefighters were still on alert and doing clearing operations even more than 10 hours since the fire department received the first emergency call.
While fire investigators are still determining what caused the blaze, it was learned that faulty electrical wiring is being eyed as one of the possible cause of the second fire that hit the already dilapidated city facility.
It was on April 9, 2008 when one of the buildings of the public market was also hit by a fire that destroyed millions of pesos worth of products and property.
Vic Calimlim, head of the local vendors association, told reporters that around 200 stalls were damaged.
Each stall has estimate stock products of P80,000 to P100,000.
This means that the damage was estimated between P16 to P20 million, but the city fire office has yet to release the officials figures on the damage caused by the fire.
He added that most of the stall owners doubled their stocks to take advantage of the influx of tourists in time for the last week of the 2009 Panagbenga festival.
Former and incumbent city officials have been pushing for major rehabilitation of the city public market, but the plan remains on the drawing board due to civil case filed by a group of market vendors opposed to its renovation.
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