MANILA: Fire killed a Chinese Filipino and her three helpers in Binondo, Manila yesterday morning.
Senior Fire Officer 2 Romel Lorenzo identified the fatalities as Hilda Cheng and her three helpers identified only as Princess, Fatima, and Rema.
Loren said that the four victims were trapped in Cheng’s four-story house.
Fire investigators suspect that the fire was caused by a malfunctioning ceiling fan.
The fire reached the fifth alarm before it was placed under control at 6:30am.
The blaze broke out while Metro Manila was experiencing heavy rainfall due to the enhanced southwest monsoon.
Five held for killing boy
BACOLOD CITY: Four minors aged nine to 14 and a 21-year-old man were arrested for the fatal beating of a six-year-old kindergarten pupil while they were high on solvent last Thursday in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
Chief Inspector Joeresty Coronica, Talisay police chief, said two of the minors, both boys aged nine and 14, were collared a few hours after the crime, while the two other minors, a boy and a girl both aged 11, and Raffy Hinolan, 21, fell Thursday night.
The suspects were reportedly sniffing “pedseal,” a solvent, in a vacant lot in Barangay Zone 12 and chanced upon the victim who they beat up to death.
The first two minors tagged in the crime were arrested by concerned citizens and turned over to the Talisay City police and the Balay Pasilungan of the city social welfare office, according to social worker Othela Clavecillas.
Coronica said the two other minors were nabbed in their houses while Hinolan was arrested when police spotted him alighting from a bus.
Bodies found on highway
ALBUERA: Two more suspected victims of “salvagings” (summary executions) were found along the highway here last Thursday morning.
One of the victims was identified as Jimmy Tan, 35, after his brother Raulito claimed his body. The other was described as aged 16 to 19 and five-foot tall and had an “Oriental Sun” tattoo on the back.
Police found four 9-mm slugs and five empty .45-caliber bullets at the scene.
Agencies
