The DPWH CAR caught fire, but Bernabe assured that no sensitive documents were lost.
DPWH CAR FIRE – DPWH Undersecretary Ricardo Bernabe III said before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that no sensitive files were burned.
The Department of Public Works and Highways-Cordillera Administrative Region (DPWH-CAR) office was recently hit by fire. The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon, January 14, originating from the financial management records room on the ground floor of the DPWH regional office at Engineer’s Hill.
No injuries were reported, and only minimal damage was recorded, according to fire investigators.
The fire was reported at 5:25 pm, brought under control at 5:36 pm, and declared extinguished at 5:43 pm, Baguio City Fire Marshal Superintendent Mark Anthony Dangatan said.
Recently, during Monday’s Senate hearing on the multi-billion-peso
flood control scandal
, Sen. Risa Hontiveros questioned DPWH Undersecretary Ricardo Bernabe III about the files destroyed in the fire and the possible motive behind the incident.
He explained that the cause of the fire is yet to be determined by the BFP. However, they already have the list of documents that got destroyed, and he expressed that there were no sensitive files that were burned. They were old files, and they maintained a list and duplicate copies of them.
“Madam Chair, as to the final report, as to the cause of the fire, it has yet to be determined by the BFP. However, we have here the list of all the affected documents and it appears na wala namang sensitive documents, and all of which we have copy of,”
he explained.
He was then asked what steps the agency would be taking to prevent the same incidents from occurring in the future. According to him, they cannot do anything to stop a fire from flaring up, but what they can do is to secure the documents and ensure that they have copies and all are accounted for.