CALASIAO—The municipal council here has placed the whole town under state of calamity after the municipal building where many of the offices of the municipal government were housed, was razed to the ground 2:00 a.m. last Monday

Mayor Roy Macanlalay said the municipal council, led by Vice Mayor Ferdinand Galang, in an 8 a.m. emergency session, approved his proposal to declare the town under the state of calamity due to the fire that resulted in the suspension of basic services of the municipal government.

He said the same resolution asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Manuel Villar, House Speaker Prospero Nograles, Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino Jr. and Third Congressional District Rep. Rachel Arenas to help Calasiao rebuild its municipal building.

Macanlalay said the town needs at least P100 million to construct a new municipal building, pointing out that the municipal government may request for the realignment of funding for a flood control project from the national government to be used partly for the reconstruction of the town’s new municipal building.

A firefighter trains his hose on the smoldering roof of
the Calasiao municipal hall during clearing operations
early Monday morning. (Punchphoto by Cesar S. Ramirez)

The fire damage to the structure was estimated at P72 million while losses from burned office equipment and documents were estimated at P25 million.

He added that instead of finishing the construction of the municipal gymnasium, the restoration of the municipal building will receive priority.

A municipal building caretaker, Wilberto Maningding, said the fire started at the second floor of the municipal building.

The municipal building is an old pre-war structure made partly of wood and concrete.

Macanlalay said that he and the other officials and employees of the municipal government will hold office temporarily in a building at the back of the burned municipal hall until the town hall is restored.

Erlinda Torres, a devotee of the Senor Divino Tesoro, holds a picture
of the image of Senor Divino Tesoro after news that the shrine
was gutted by the fire that started at the municipal hall
building of Calasiao early morning Monday, September 15.
(Punchphoto by Cesar S. Ramirez)

Also destroyed in the fire was the shrine of Senor Divino Tesoro, a shrine visited regularly by thousands of devotees from many parts of Pangasinan.

According to the mayor, the shrine had been annexed to the municipal building ever since the devotion for Senor Divino Tesoro started during the Spanish era.

Old folks in Calasiao said the image of Senor Divino Tesoro which reportedly came from Spain was washed away by flood waters and drifted into the front yard of the municipal hall.

Meanwhile, Fire Officer 3 Jose Carino, deputy municipal fire marshal, who collapsed while battling the fire, is reportedly now in serious condition at the Villaflor Doctors’ Hospital in Dagupan City after he inhaled black smoke.

Mayor Macanlalay said Carino, who suffered from suffocation, is still comatose, quoting Dr. Philip Oliva, the attending physician.

The Bureau of Fire Protection is investigating the cause of the blaze.

The 10 inmates of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology sub-jail were transferred temporarily to the adjacent police jail before thy were moved to the district jail in Dagupan City.-LM

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