Thieves prey on fire victims

One of the fire victims, Cecilia Gahites, 86, sits on her wheelchair near where her house once stood. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced that they would look for ways to double the financial assistance for fire victims.
(CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

It was bad enough losing their house and most of their belongings to the fire that razed 66 houses in Barangay Suba.

What made it worse was that thieves stole what they were able to save from the fire.

Editha Castro now sleeps on a slab of concrete, the only thing remaining from their two-storey house which was eaten up by the fire.
When the fire reached her house, Castro said she, her five children and three grandchildren did not hesitate to run outside.

Stolen

She said her able-bodied sons retrieved and saved several of their belongings, but when the sun rose at seven in the morning yesterday, she was surprised to find her flat-
screen TV and two of her computer sets were missing.

“I do not doubt that somebody stole them! That’s why we cannot leave our place. There are thieves lurking around, waiting for us to leave so that they can strike and steal,” Castro said.

A portion of the combined income of her children was used to purchase three premium roller (hulog-piso) computer sets as an alternative source of livelihood.

The barangay gym has been converted into a temporary shelter for the 542 fire victims, an offer Castro declined. She said it was more important to guard from thieves whatever properties they were able to save.

“If we stay there (Barangay Suba sports complex), we might as well transfer to another place and start all over again. We will just stay here and start rebuilding our house. What we would like to ask for are mats and blankets to keep out the cold at night,” Castro said in Cebuano.

Armelita Nabor, who lived three doors down from the Castro’s residence, was able to save her folding bed.

She also declined the offer of temporary shelter at the gym, saying they will guard whatever debris remains of their house that could still be used when they rebuild it.
“But last night, it got really cold and we are very exposed in the street. We need blankets, especially for my children,” she told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano.

Relief

The 61-year-old Castro told CDN that they received relief goods from Cebu City’s Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS) a few hours after the fire was finally put out.

The relief packs contained rice, instant noodles and cans of sardines, and she said that they can claim them thrice a day at the Suba Sports Complex, which is a thirty-minute walk from her house.

“We have food to sustain us but we’re still having difficulty finding a comfortable and safe place to sleep,” added Castro in Cebuano.

Suba Barangay Captain Joel Sable said that the total number of fire victims is sufficient to declare a state of calamity in their barangay, but he told reporters that their LGU still needs to comply with certain requirements before making such declaration.

“Vice Mayor Edgar Labella is assisting us and we are still following up the progress,” Sable explained in Cebuano.

He also said that the DSWS will stop giving relief packs of food to the victims on the morning of October 27.

“But our office received calls from various private organizations who are willing to bring in more donations. Just recently, the Cebu – Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce
told us they will provide clothes, food and other necessities to our affected constituents,” said Sable.

Monetary assistance

Meanwhile, around 100 victims of previous fire incidents from Barangays Capitol Site, Lorega, San Miguel, and Suba expressed relief over Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s announcement granting an additional P10,000 on top of their P10,000 calamity-relief fund.

When Osmeña dropped by at the ninth floor of legislative building where the DSWS distributed financial assistance to the victims of recent fire incidents in Cebu City, he told them, “Mangita mi og paaagi para atong nang doblehan ang kwarta para sa biktima sa sunog. Kaniadto, P10,000, totally burned. Akong himuon, basta nahurot imong balay, P20,000 (We will find a way to double the monetary assistance to fire victims. Whereas before, we would give P10,000 for those whose houses are totally burned, I plan to double the amount to P20,000).”

Jude Gerald Kayaco, 52, a resident of Barangay Lorega, San Miguel whose two-storey concrete house was burned to ashes last June 27, said the additional P10,000 grant would be a big help to his family.

“I work as a construction worker and my wife is a housewife. Materials needed to rebuild our house costs no less than P6,000 and honestly, P10,000 is really not enough,” he said in Cebuano.

Lapu-Lapu fire

In another fire incident, three families were left homeless when a boarding house was razed by fire in Sitio Seawage, Barangay Pusok, Lapu-Lapu City yesterday morning.
The Lapu-Lapu City Fire District received the alarm at 9:25 a.m. The fire was under control in three minutes.

An electrical short circuit was what caused the fire, said investigators.

SFO1 Hadjiludin Samonte said there was a power outage in the area before the fire. One of the fire victims said when power was restored, they later noticed thick smoke and in a matter of few minutes, fire broke out.

No one was reported injured. Fortunately, the boarding house had a firewall that prevented the spread of the fire to adjacent houses.