More than P50 million worth of property were destroyed in a six-hour fire that hit the Bureau of Customs-Port of Manila Friday night which injured two people, officials said Saturday.
In a statement, BOC spokesperson Erastus Austria said no important documents, particularly documents pertaining to cases involving billions of pesos worth of shabu intercepted by the bureau, were lost.
The Port of Manila is the bureau’s third largest collection district.
The two injured persons were later released from the hospital, according to fire officials.
A fire of undetermined origin engulfed the Port of Manila building that raged for more than six hours last Friday night and was only declared out by Saturday morning.
Austria assured that all important documents were not affected by the fire and now kept at the bureau’s gym.
“The documents are there. And in any case, all of the transactions of the Bureau of Customs have electronic copies and it is also in our servers and that is all safe and secure,” Austria said.
The fire reached the fifth alarm and more than 20 fire trucks from the NCR and Chinese fire volunteer trucks responded to contain the blaze.
Austria said all transactions and other services would continue on Tuesday and there would be no disruption in the bureau’s services “as offices affected by the fire blaze will be temporarily placed in the BOC Gymnasium, specifically the Formal Entry Division.”
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Fire Protection is still conducting an investigation into the fire.
Meanwhile, a member of the House of Representatives called on authorities to immediately investigate the fire incident.
“As member of the House committee on public order and safety, I request DILG Secretary Eduardo Año to task the Bureau of Fire Protection to immediately assign its best arson investigators to probe this incident,” Misamis Oriental 2nd District Rep. Juliette Uy said in a statement.
“Their investigation must be meticulous, thorough, and scientific,” Uy said.
She added: “Given the notoriety of the Bureau of Customs for graft and corruption, it is understandable for the public to be skeptical about the cause of the fire that has razed the offices of the Bureau of Customs at the Manila Bay Port Area.”
“I am also concerned about the operations of Bureau of Customs. I hope there will be little or minimal disruptions because disruptions at the Port Area can have ripple effects involving the business sector and the flow of goods in and out of the Manila Bay harbor,” Uy said.
