Dr. Earl Jude Cleope, history professor from Silliman University, has written a very fascinating article on occurrences of fire in Dumaguete City from 1953 to 2011. In his article – which was published in the Journal of History (of Philippine National Historical Society) and Hugkat Volume 2 (the Journal of Heritage and Culture of Dumaguete City) – he aimed to “offer a framework for the study of an urban center, one that underscores the role of fire as a factor in the historical development of an area.”
In the case of his paper, he asseverated further that “the occurrences of fires should not only be studied for their reasons, but also for their meanings and effects.” That being said, these fires played an important role in the historical development of the city.
Dr. Cleope started his narrative on the big fire that occurred on the “Christmas Eve of 1953, which swept over the business district of the city and burned down the buildings of St. Paul’s College compound right beside Dumaguete Cathedral.”
However, before Dumaguete even became a city on 1948, and even before the Japanese invaded and occupied Dumaguete on 1942, the Dumagueteños experienced one of the worst fires in their area, specifically in the downtown area, on 3 February 1941.
As reported in the Tribune newspaper, dated 4 February 1941, a huge fire that lasted for five and half hours – from 1 AM to 6:30 AM – destroyed most of the business area of Dumaguete. As the report stated: “Eight blocks were laid waste, and all establishments in this area were razed, with the exception of a grocery and a dry goods store which somehow escaped the flames. From the Escolta, the fire spread fast, burning buildings along Jones Street (now Dr. V. Locsin Street), Legaspi (now Bishop Epifanio B. Surban Street) and Real Streets.”
It was, according to the report, “the biggest conflagration to hit the provincial capital in its history.”
The fire started from a Japanese refreshment parlor situated along the Escolta, which is now Governor Mariano Perdices Street, the main street of Dumaguete. Due to strong winds, it then spread throughout downtown Dumaguete, which led to catastrophic damages. The cost of damage was estimated at around one million pesos; some even estimated it to reach around two million pesos in damages.
Fortunately, there were no casualties among the civilians living within the area. St. Paul Academy (now Holy Child Hospital and a part of COSCA) and the Park Hotel were also miraculously spared. Albeit, St. Paul’s, as hitherto mentioned, would not be spared during the Christmas Eve Fire of 1953.
Suffice it to say, there were a thousand individuals who were displaced and made homeless. As a result, Governor Julian Teves of Negros Oriental requested from Malacañan to “declare Dumaguete in a state of emergency to prevent profiteering.” Neighboring provinces of Negros Oriental, like Cebu, offered succor to the victims. Governor Hilario Abellana, for example, “shipped 50 sacks of rice and corn to Dumaguete as food relief for the fire sufferers of the capital.”
Until now, the cause of the fire remains unknown. All we know is that it all started from “a Japanese candy shop and refreshment parlor” along the main street (now Governor Mariano Perdices Street).
Quite interestingly, I came across this fire incident when I was doing some data gathering on a research that I’m currently working on about wartime atrocities in the Central Visayas during World War II.
I had opted to write about this and segway a little bit from my current research endeavor since I find it very significant especially in the decision of Mayor Mariano Perdices, later on, to reject the plan of some Dumagueteños to burn the town before the Japanese forces would arrive. It is possible, indeed probable, that Perdices overruled the scorched-earth plan because he saw how the civilians suffered from the fire incident of February 1941.
Perdices, himself, said that the only people who will suffer from burning the town, or from a scorched-earth policy, will be the civilians. So, it all seems to make sense now. In spite of the enormous damages brought about by the fire, the town of Dumaguete still was able to slowly recover from it.
As Dr. Cleope pointed out: “The narration of fire occurrences in the urban area of Dumaguete offers a discourse that the cityscape is challenged by frequent fires, yet it continues to prosper, and businesses endure.”
Sadly, the town of Dumaguete – just more than a year after the February 1941 fire incident – suffered another blow with the Japanese occupation. By the end of the Japanese occupation, some buildings were burned by the Japanese retreating forces – including the Limquiaco House, which was the headquarters of the Col. Satoshi Oie, and many others; but, unlike Manila and Cebu, most of the buildings and houses in Dumaguete were spared, especially those in Silliman University.
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