Little girl in Antique gains fame for 'predicting' fires

A three-year-old girl in Antique province in Western Visayas is attracting attention for her supposed ability to foresee fires. The girl's supposed powers prompted local officials in San Jose town, Antique to cordon off their house for security reasons, a news site reported on Thursday. In an interview published in "The Daily Guardian" (TDG), San Jose Mayor Rony Molina said, “One of a kind. A new experience for us. Beyond explanation. I am at a loss." According to TDG, the girl's 25-year-old father, a tricycle driver, he learned of his daughter's power only last month. The father recalled an incident when he took his wife and daughter into the town proper to buy soda last month. As he was alighting from his tricycle, his daughter reportedly said, “may sunog alas nuebe (there will be fire at nine o’clock)." He ignored his daughter's comment at first but was surprised to see the spare tire of his tricycle on fire shortly after 9:00 a.m. that day, the report said. The father pointed out his daughter still does not know how to tell time and that he and his wife do not have a wristwatch. The TDG said the mother also recounted incidents when the girl would talk about fire and fires would allegedly happen. Molina then visited the residence of the girl and confirmed that fires indeed happened after the girl spoke about them. When he personally visited the girl's family, Molina recalled that the girl suddenly remarked, “may masunog (something will burn)." Within seconds, he saw a shirt hanging in the house suddenly on fire. “Nobody touched it. It was just there. Nobody was even close to it. It just started in seconds. The shirt was on fire," the mayor said. The mayor then ordered that the town’s firetruck be on standby in the village. On the mayor's orders, the family’s hut has also been secured by a yellow police line. “That is just to secure the area from people who come over," the mayor said. The Daily Guardian report said that as of Wednesday, the girl was visited by an Iloilo City-based psychic, an “exorcist," and a charismatic movement leader. – VVP, GMA News