By Luel Galarpe/PNA
CEBU CITY — The government of Cebu City has suspended the issuance of stall permits and renewal of stall leases at the Carbon Public Market after the Unit 3 of the market complex was razed by fire Thursday afternoon.
City Market administrator Winifredo Orcullo Jr. said Friday the Cebu City Market Authority has to temporarily suspend its operations because its office inside Unit 3 was also burned.
Orcullo said they are now conducting an inventory of documents vital to their operations and are checking if some of them could still be salvaged.
He said they are also looking for a place to temporarily relocate the Cebu City Market Authority office and will announce the resumption of their operations sometime next week.
Aside from the Market Authority office, the Cebu City Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification, Enhancement (PROBE) office was also gutted.
Cebu City Fire Marshall, Chief Insp. Noel Nelson Ababon, said the fire started at about 3:15 p.m. when an electric wire connected to the PROBE office was severed.
Ababon said more than 100 stalls were destroyed in the fire, including fruits and vegetables, inside Unit 3.
The fire was declared under control at about 5 p.m. and the damage was estimated at PHP1 million, he added.
