Fire survivors can rebuild homes

CEBU, Philippines —  The fire that struck Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City Friday left 615 residents homeless but not all hope is lost for the survivors.

Yesterday, one of the barangay’s officials said the survivors can rebuild their houses at the same location after the area is cleared of debris.

Councilwoman Anne Marie Vestil-Palomo said the lot is owned by the city government and, under the Slum Improvement Resettlement (SIR) program, residents are allowed to pay for the area they occupy on an installment basis for 25 years.

At least 105 houses were destroyed and at least 156 families were displaced from Sitios Puntod and Huyong-Huyong .

As of yesterday, it was unclear if the city will re-block the area hit by the fire.

“We have to check with the city’s DWUP (Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor) if there’s a need for re-blocking,” Palomo told The FREEMAN.

Re-blocking, however, has become standard operating procedure after a calamity, such as a fire, so that access roads can be put in place at the area.

“Re-blocking is needed to identify and to see to it that the structures to be built conform to emergency and safety standards with proper pavements and pathways and, also, to see to it that no encroachments to the lots allotted only for the SIR beneficiaries. This is really up to DWUP,” Palomo added

The Freeman tried to get a comment from DWUP but the office could not be reached yesterday.

The Mambaling council was scheduled to meet last night to declare a state of calamity so that the barangay can use its calamity funds. Palomo said the barangay has a budget of P527,000 for quick response.

Flora Bartolome, head of the city’s Department of Social Welfare and Services, said the city will provide the survivors with free packed meals for three days. Each person will also be given with a “home kit” that contains canned goods and rice worth P500. Each family will be given a housing kit that contains housing materials worth P2,000.

The Bureau of Fire Protection-7 pegged the damage at P1.2 million as most of the structures destroyed were made of light materials. — JMO  (FREEMAN)