Cebu guitar industry suffers blow: Fire razes P3-M in 9 shops

Cebu’s famous guitar industry suffered a big blow following a two-hour fire that destroyed 17 establishments in an old building in downtown Cebu at dawn Thursday. Sun-Star Cebu (www.sunstar.com.ph) said Friday that no one was reported hurt in the fire, but 12 establishments in the Velez Building and five more in an adjacent building were destroyed. Arson investigators estimated the damage to property at P3 million, even as responding firefighters managed to control the blaze two hours and 20 minutes later. Joni Chan, president of the Manalili, Lincoln and Progreso Business Association, said the fire affected the city’s guitar industry. Only three of the 12 guitar stores are now left after the fire, he said. He added these stores have been around for 50 to 60 years already. Fire investigator SFO3 Felix Romero said initial information he gathered showed that the fire started at the second floor of Classic Guitar occupied by Kakua Marketing reportedly owned by a Taiwanese. But Romero said it was still not determined what caused the fire, though firecrackers allegedly stocked inside Kakua Marketing may have started the blaze. Strong winds fanned the flames, which spread to the building across Velez. The Velez Building, which was reportedly built in the early 1900s, stands at the corner of Lincoln, Manalili and Plaridel Sts. in Barangay Ermita, Cebu City. Fire marshal Supt. Esmael Codilla considered the incident as the biggest fire so far to hit the city this year, and initially pegged the damage to property at P3 million. Codilla said the fire spread quickly and spread to the establishments because 80 percent of the structures were made of decades-old wood. He added most of the products sold were highly flammable such as paints, oils, plastics, candles, shoes and guitars. The fire, which started at 3:58 a.m., reached the general alarm shortly after it started at 5 a.m. Fire trucks from the neighboring cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay helped the Cebu City fire department in putting off the blaze. The fire was declared under control at 6:18 a.m. but it took firefighters the whole day Thursday to extinguish the fire because some combustible materials rekindled from time to time. Policemen were also deployed at the fire scene to prevent looters from getting inside. The narrow road along Lincoln St. and the low water pressure at the fire hydrants made the job more difficult for the firefighters, Codilla said. The crowd also became a problem as they blocked approaching fire trucks, he said. SFO3 Romero said of the 17 establishments, 16 of these were destroyed and one was damaged. At the building’s Lincoln side were Classic Guitar, Pan de Rose Bakery, Cebu Guitar, New Hamtat Trading, G.O. Marketing, Vision Enterprises, Chua Yao Enterprises, Ong Kin King Warehouse and Store and Kokua Marketing. At the Manalili side, the fire ate up JLY Shoe Center and Cebu Sunrise Minimart, while Cebu King’s Trading Inc. on Plaridel St. was also razed. At the building across Velez Building, Romero identified the destroyed establishments as GGM General Merchandise, L.C. Remedios Guitar, Andrea KC Marketing, Nazareth Children Center and Tiong Bee. Cebu Champion Hardware Inc., owned by Presidential Assistant for Visayas Felix Guanzon, and two other establishments nearby were saved by a huge firewall. Filomeno Lim, president of the Cebu Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said he hopes the city government will assist them in securing business permits and other needed documents. But Codilla denied insinuations that the firefighters focused their efforts on saving the establishment owned by Guanzon. - GMANews.TV