NEWSFLASH 

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FIRE GUTS HERBERT BAUTISTA'S FAMILY HOME

Quezon City, Jan. 17, 2000 Faulty electrical wiring is the suspected cause of the fire that gutted the house of former Quezon City vice mayor and now National Youth Commission Commissioner Herbert Bautista's family in Cubao, yesterday afternoon.

Eight adjoining apartment units near the corner of New York St. and E. Rodriguez Ave. were also burned.

Nobody was reported injured, but the 3-storey house being occupied by Bautista's parents, Herminio and Baby, was razed to the ground.

Arson probers were told by witnesses that the blaze did not start from the kitchen of the Mang Gusting restaurant operated by Mrs. Bautista, but from the second floor ceiling. Witnesses' accounts indicated that faulty electrical wiring had caused the blaze.

Bautista, popularly known in show business by his nickname “Bistek,” was among the first to arrive at the fire scene.

The Bulletin reports that Bautista earned the admiration of neighbors when he requested firefighters to train their hoses on their neighbors' houses instead of his parents' to prevent the fire from spreading.

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Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi