Phil. Daily Inquirer, Nov. 19, 2005
The late national artist NVM Gonzalez once told his family never to just give away his treasure trove of books, literary collections and works as essayist, fictionist, teacher and poet.
Yesterday, all but the memory of his life's work and legacy remained after a 30-minute blaze gutted down the Gonzalez family home inside the University of the Philippines compound in Diliman, Quezon City.
A whole library containing Gonzalez' works spanning a 65-year career was reduced to ashes after a fire of still unknown origin razed the Gonzalez' home on Mabini Street, Area 1.
Certificates, medals and the entries to the annual NVM Gonzalez Award, a prize handed to the best short story in English of the year, also went up in smoke, family members said.
Little else was left of the 52-year-old bungalow-type house aside from the foundations and some furniture.
The fire began shortly after 9:15 a.m. and was put out only 30 minutes later, said Gonzalez' daughter Selma Gonzalez-Cortes, a professor at the UP Integrated School.
"It was very quick," she said. Her 87-year-old mother Narita and their two maids were able to get out of the house before the fire spread, she added.
A calm Cortes said the family had planned to turn a portion of the house into a library or a museum. They wanted to keep the literary collections in the house so their mother could remain close to her husband's memory, she said.
But now, "everything's gone," she said.
