A MOTHER’S decision to leave her two children at home to get a salary in “taboan” proved costly for the mother when her children died after a fire razed her house in Barangay Mangguiao, Asturias town.
Fire Insp. Arra Fajardo, Balamban Fire Station head, said yesterday that the burned remains of the two children, whose ages are two years old and five years old, were found in the razed house.
Mark Supaton, Asturias Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head identified the children as Marilyn and Simar Franz Palicte.
Supaton said that the house is located in the interior part of the mountain barangays where neighbors are several meters away from the house.Supaton said that the parents Maria and Francisco Palicte were allegedly not in the house when the fire happened.
“The mother was allegedly in ‘taboan’ to get a salary. The area is two kilometers away from their house,” Supaton said.
Senior Insp. Jade Sumagat of the Asturias Police Station also said that the kids were reportedly locked inside the house.
A dyAb report said that the mother decided to leave the children alone in the house because it was raining and she tied a rope on the door to lock it so that they would not play outside.
Sumagat said that a neighbor later discovered that Palicte’s house was already gutted by fire.
“Nakabantay ang silingan dako na ang kayo, lisud na tabangon. Lagyo sad ang mga balay (A neighbor found out later that the house was on fire and it was already difficult to help put it out),” Supaton added.
Asturias has no fire station, the nearest fire substation is the neighboring town of Balamban.
Supaton added that the house was just made of a light material that’s why the whole house was immediately burned down.