| city of
Tagbilaran. The said old building is the RARA Vocational School and is almost as old as
UB's old building (now used by the high school day and night classes). According to an
unofficial report from the city fire marshall, the fire originated at the ground floor of
the two-storey RARA building occupied by a dress shop and the Sto. Niño Learning
Institute (formerly MAJ computech, a computer store). Faulty electrical wiring is the
possible cause according to the fire investigator. The fire quickly swallowed the RARA
building which is made of light wood materials. The Tagbilaran DILG firefighters were not
able to stop the fire from immediately spreading to the UB high school building because
this high school building too is made from light wood materials. In about an hour and a
half, the fire engulfed about 40% of the UB building. Firetrucks from two big
business establishments of the city, namely the Alturas Group of Companies and the Bohol
Quality Corporation together with firefighting units from other towns of Bohol helped in
combating the fire. At about 4:00 A.M., the fire was said to be contained but not yet
completely put out.
The neighborhood wherein UB is located is situated in a block comprising of many small
business establishments, boarding houses, residential houses and a gasoline station. The
direction of the breeze was from the RARA building towards the quadrangle of UB. Because
of the combined efforts of the different firefighting units, the fire only burned the RARA
building, part of the entire UB building and very few of the boarding houses. It swept
literally across UB's old building all the way to the old main entrance along Palma
street.
According to a live interview with the president of the university, former Gov.
David B. Tirol, by no less than DYRD's station manager who actually was on the scene
during the incident, the fire caused an estimated damaged of about thirty to fourty
million pesos. The areas affected by the fire inside the university are the following; the
entire High School Building, the Engineering Building, the Teachers College Building,
Architecture, Liberal Arts, Criminology, College of Law and V.T. Advance Learning. He also
said that the school is fully covered by an insurance policy and that they will
immediately prepare the necessary documents for their insurance claim inorder to waste no
time for the recovery of the school. He assured the students that classes will resume
after a few days despite the calamity.
- WebLine Bohol News Team -
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UB Alumni members are encouraged to inform their fellow members about this sad incident.
You may post your message at WebLine Bohol Forum
under the category SCHOOL for other alumni members to read or you may send email to webline_bohol@iname.com for your message to be
posted on WebLine Bohol Community Billboard.
Photos of the UB conflagration will be posted on this
page as soon as they are available. |
