MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Statistics (PSA) Authority said only national identification cards for delivery in the City of Manila were affected by the hours-long fire that destroyed the iconic Manila Central Post Office from late Sunday, May 21, to Monday.

“We also wish to clarify that PhilIDs for delivery of the PHLPost are sorted and stored at the PHLPost Central Mail Exchange Center (CMEC) in Pasay City and were unaffected by the fire,” the PSA said on Monday, May 22. 

As of press time, the number of burned IDs was still unknown.

The agency also assured the public that the national IDs lost in the fire will be replaced by the PSA at no additional cost. 

The PSA said they are closely coordinating with the Philippine Postal Corporation regarding the destroyed IDs.

Philippine Postal Corporation Postmaster Luis Carlos said that letters and parcels bound for Manila and outside it were “totally burned.” These included court letters and national IDs.

According to the PSA, over 30 million PhilIDs, out of over 37 million dispatched by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, have been delivered by the Philippine Postal Corporation to registered Filipinos nationwide as of May 5.

According to the  Bureau of Fire Protection-National Capital Region, the fire started at 11:41 pm on Sunday.

The fire was declared under control at 7:22 am, around eight hours after the blaze started.

Seven were reported injured. Most of them were firefighters who experienced difficulty breathing and suffered abrasions. The estimated cost of damage is P300 million, the BFP said. – Rappler.com

FAST FACTS: Story of the Manila Central Post Office