Why pay if it’s free?

Why should the Republic of the Philippines pay for a Bureau of Fire Protection when Volunteer Fire Brigades do a better job, are better equipped and do it all on a full-time volunteer basis?

This may sound as a rhetorical question but the way things have been going in the area of fire prevention, the question now becomes a question that seriously needs to be answered.

For several years the Bureau of Fire Protection has been faced by questions of competence as well as charges of corruption. From internal feuding, solicitation, incompetence and worse, extortion under duress the Bureau has had a never ending stream of accusations.

Every year, we hear businessmen talk about their “no choice” situation where they “have to buy” fire extinguishers from bomberos or their “authorized” agents or kabits.

Extortion has become a living reality among builders, homeowners and business establishments who need to get clearances before occupancy.

Every year, we hear of blazing infernos that died on its own because the bomberos didn’t have the equipment or the water or chemicals to kill the flame.

Every year, thousands of poor people lose their homes while hundreds of businesses lose millions of pesos because of fires. And in each of these years we always hear accusations that some members of the bureau were soliciting money to prioritize and protect the interest of those willing to pay.

Yet in spite of the many lives and hundreds of millions that have been burned in uncontrolled fires, hardly anyone has been held responsible or gone to jail. If fire trucks can’t drive through a small street it’s never their fault. Blame it on the street not the planners and managers of fire fighting units who lack imagination and foresight.

If the streets are smaller, get smaller or slimmer trucks. If the “uzi-seros” or bystanders block the road, call in the civil disturbance unit to chase away the crowd and use the fire truck to hose them away and disperse the crowd. If Secretary Puno can authorize or sit and watch as members of media were being arrested for processing or possible obstruction of justice during the Manila Peninsula Siege, why should it bother his conscience to hose down uziseros obstructing fire trucks.

Unfortunately controversies involving the BFP have been swept into a grave alongside the ashes of the dead and no serious investigation or study has been done by government to once and for all solve the problem of having an ill-equipped, poorly trained, third world Bureau of Fire Protection. No one has gone to jail or been stripped of their commission.

Heck! Why do we even call it the Bureau of Fire Protection? Somehow the title comes to life every time a fire blazes into an inferno. Call it prevention, eradication, or control but to call it fire protection makes it a self fulfilling prophesy!

Second, whatever came out of all the investigations and studies that resulted from the fire that killed the daughter of Speaker Joe de Venecia? While it was never intended to be a witch hunt it was suppose to address the very questions that still persist today.

Third, why can’t the BFP handle the problem by themselves and why do communities find it necessary to put up their own Volunteer Fire Brigades especially in business areas where the tenants are serious taxpayers and constant extortion victims? For all the legal and illegal money taken from these communities, the government at the very least should protect the businesses from becoming Peking goose?!

This article is not meant to defile or belittle the sacrifices of brave men and women who have given their lives serving in the bureau.

This piece is an attack on the incompetent bureaucrats in the bureau, in local government and in the administration who have remained indifferent or refuse to prioritize this physically and emotionally destructive situation.

Our firemen and fire trucks are not designed for purposes of hosing down citizens peacefully assembled in the exercise of their freedom to air their grievances. It is no surprise then that when some fire trucks respond to a fire they only have 5 minutes worth of water. That’s all they ever need to disperse a militant crowd!

Our fire trucks are not supposed to be part time watering cans either! How many times have we seen them being used to water planter boxes in the middle of city streets?! Of course they never have enough water because they don’t have enough time and fuel to go for a refill after being used as mobile irrigation tools.

Our firemen are primarily fire fighters and are not trained and encouraged enough to be educators or speakers in schools, churches and offices regarding fire prevention. The Bureau of Fire has become more of a permits issuing and fire extinguisher company but not really the bureau that has the power and the political will to censure or order closure of fire traps, fire hazards etc.

If Congress were to do a comparative analysis of the BFP and the Volunteer Fire Brigades, they will certainly discover a humongous difference in the quality and training between government employees and the volunteers. Sad to say, there is still a lot of patronage and family ties that diminish or pollute the quality of staff within the BFP.

It is high time for DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno to pay more attention to his responsibilities or resign from the job. Too much attention to political back room work has continued to diminish the services that fall under the DILG.  We have the fire departments we pay for because we allow local politics to determine their quality while APPOINTED guys like Puno poorly manage these vital needs of communities. In the mean time better buy fire extinguishers, it might be cheaper in the long run!