Tondo fire suspected intentional

"The fire spread too fast. They feel it was intentional," said Tondo Councilor Dennis Alcoreza. who heard the fire victims at a Manila council committee hearing held in the community Wednesday.

"They expressed skepticism at the idea that the fire was caused by a child playing with candles," added Alcoreza.

Isla Puting Bato in Tondo, Manila, residents doesn't believe that the fire that turned their houses to ashes on May 11 was a mere accident.

Alcoreza together with another councilor, Ernesto Dionisio, passed a resolution for the council to hold hearings to investigate the fire that left more than 5,000 people homeless, mainly from Purok 1 and 2 last week. Councilors of District 1, Isla Puting Bato residents, and a representative from the Bureau of Fire Protection attended a hearing on Wedenesday.

BFP reported that the cause of the fire came from only one source—the purok leader. But Alcoreza also added that the BFP is still having their investigation.

The fire victims questioned the Philippine Ports Authority for seizing them from rebuilding their homes on PPA property where the houses that caught fire two weeks ago were mostly located on the breakwater of the PPA property.

After the fire, a letter was sent to the Manila city government, where PPA appealed to relocate the residents as the area was a danger zone.

"Why are we being asked to leave at this time when we have just suffered the loss of our homes? It makes us think that perhaps the fire had not been an accident, that it was deliberately started," mentioned in a letter to the city council by Samahang Maralita ng Isla Puting Bato, Tondo Inc.

The victims have been evacuated to the Del Pan Sports complex in Tondo and the National Housing Authority plans their relocation supposedly to Bulacan.

The fire victims appealed to the city council to help them convince the PPA to allow them to at least put up temporary shelters from the remains of their destroyed homes while the relocation plan is not final.

"While the matter is still under discussion, why not declare the site of the fire as a staging area for our eventual relocation? The Del Pan Sports complex is so crowded and many have already fallen ill," they mentioned in their letter, signed by their president, Mansor Utto and 11 officers.

Alcoreza said that some have been living in tents at the site of their burned homes since they were not allowed to bring in construction materials to rebuild their homes.

"We are not opposed to the plans for our place but we wish these be done in accordance with law, with the process prescribed in the Urban Development Housing Act. Don't do it through the use of force and by burning down our houses because we are also human beings who ought to be treated in a humane manner," Utto added. -GIAN — ARA