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Davao mall fire not the first for NCCC


 

The fire that gutted Davao City's New City Commercial Center (NCCC) Mall was not the first blaze experienced by the company.

A "24 Oras" report by Chino Gaston on Tuesday detailed the history of the company, which was founded by a certain Lim Tian Siu.

According to the company's profile posted on its website, the company initially ventured into trading business, which was shortlived as the original store was destroyed.

"When the war broke out in Manila on December 1941, the Lim family moved out of city, which was heavily occupied with Japanese forces. When the war ended, Manila was heavily destroyed and the family decided to move from Manila to Cotabato City, a thriving business center in South-Central Mindanao, where they were able to put up a small trading business to include a buying and selling involving freshwater eels," the profile read.

"This initial venture was short lived, as the first store was burned," it added.

The family then transferred to Davao City and established a textile business in 1952, where fire also destroyed their business, the report said.

Lim Tian Siu's son Henry opened a supermarket and department store along Ramon Magsaysay Avenue in Davao City in 1978. It was in December 2003 when they opened their largest store, the NCCC Mall Davao.

In September 2013, a certain NCCC Mall located in Puerto Princesa, Palawan was also burned to ashes.

The latest incident in Davao City killed 37 individuals.

President Rodrigo Duterte vowed that the "truth will come out" and that government will "chip in" for aid and compensation for the grieving families.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the fire to determine criminal liability. —Anna Felicia Bajo/JST, GMA News

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