Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella on Wednesday said he will no longer go to Las Vegas, Nevada on November 15 to watch the People's Champ Manny Pacquiao fight Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto.

Instead, Puentevella said he will just give money to victims of a fire that killed 17 people in Barangay 19, Bacolod City on November 2.

"I'll probably [watch] the fight here in the Philippines and just give the money that I would have spent on the trip to the victims of the fire," he told ABS-CBN.

Barangay 19 has been placed under a state of calamity after the fire destroyed 59 houses and damaged four others, leaving 80 families homeless.

Barangay captain Jocelyn Uychiat said the declaration is necessary so funds could be released to assist the fire victims, majority of whom lost everything they owned.

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said he will request the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlugsod to concur in the declaration so they can assist the fire victims.

Councilor Bobby Rojas, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on fire, natural disasters and calamity, said the SP will pay for the burial expenses of the 17 victims.

"We will bury the bodies in Handumanan," he said, adding that some of the families want the victims to be buried in the Bacolod Public Cemetery.

He said majority of the dead will be buried Wednesday to prevent the spread of disease. City Disaster Coordinating Council action officer Joemarie Vargas said the charred bodies could no longer be embalmed.

Three of the dead will be brought to Victorias City, he added.

Candle caused fire

City fire marshall Senior Inspector Pamela Rojane Candido confirmed that an unattended candle caused the fire that destroyed an estimated P4 million in property last Monday.

She said Gloria Abrego lit the candle on the first floor of the boarding house owned by  Margie Depakakibo and then fell asleep. Abrego, however, denied lighting the candle, saying that she wole up to see the ceiling of the first floor already ablaze.

Abrego sustained burns on 27 percent of her body and is now undergoing treatment at the burn unit of Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital. With reports from Nico Delfin and Yasmin Pascual-Dormido, ABS-CBN Bacolod