BY EVANGELINE DE VERA
A JOINT birthday celebration of four Court
of Appeals magistrates yesterday literally ended up in smoke
when a fire broke out at the fourth floor of the main building
where the lunch celebration was being held.
No one was reported hurt in the blaze which
started at the office of Associate Justice Edgardo Sundiam at
about 12:35 p.m. It reached the fifth alarm before it was put
out at 1:48 p.m.
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A court official said the hearing on the
disappearance of activist Jonas Burgos will proceed today as
scheduled because the venue – the session hall of the Eight
Division – is in another building.
Expected to attend the hearing are
officials of the Armed Forces and the PNP who were ordered by
the Supreme Court Tuesday to produce Burgos.
Burgos was abducted last April 28 by
unidentified armed men, believed to be agents of the military,
at a restaurant at the Ever Gotesco mall in Quezon City.
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Manila fire marshal Col. Pablito Cordeta
said a staff of Sundiam said the air-conditioning unit in
their office broke down.
Sundiam and most justices of the CA were
having lunch at the conference hall to celebrate the birthday
of Associate Justices Mariflor Castillo, Amelita Tolentino,
Magdangal de Leon and Bienvenido Reyes.
They became aware of the situation only
after thick tongues of smoke came out of the ceiling.
Cordeta said they have yet to quantify the
damage. Fire investigators said mostly court documents were
damaged.
About eight fire trucks responded to the
fire alarm, some coming from the volunteer firefighting teams
in Parañaque, Makati and Quezon City.
CA employees were sent home early.
