Chan: Fire victims can rebuild homes but no more boarding houses

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan talks with the fire victims of Purok Ube, Barangay Gun-ob a day after the July 13 fire that hit the Purok. | Rosalie O. Abatayo

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — Aside from receiving financial assistance from the Lapu-Lapu City government, the nearly 700 individuals displaced by the July 13 fire in Purok Ube, Barangay Gun-ob, are also assured of being allowed to return to where their house was built  and rebuild their homes there.

Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan assured the fire victims on July 14 that he would negotiate with the owners of the lot where the fire site was located so that they could rebuild their homes there.

Chan also told the fire victims that the city government would give them financial assistance after the CSWS would finish validating the number of fire victims.

As of 3 p.m. on Sunday, July 14, the CSWS has logged 181 families or 648 individuals that were rendered homeless by the fire.

Chan said homeowners would be given P10,000 while sharers and renters might be given P3,000 to P5,000 as financial assistance.

Chan also told the fire victims that although they would be given priority to return to the lot and rebuild their homes, he would be prohibiting the building of boarding houses there.

“Kasabot kaayo ko anang mga walay balay. Dili lalim. Kana sila ang atong priority nga mapahimutang,” he said.

(I understand of not having a home. It’s not easy. So they would be given priority to rebuild their homes there.)

“Katong mga nagnegosyo og paabangan, pasensya na, negosyo na pasabot naa kay balay kaugalingon. Nianha lang ka para magnegosyo. Ibawal nato ang magnegosyo og paabangan dihang dapita,” Chan said as he spoke before the fire victims on Sunday afternoon, July 14.

(Those who are into the business of boarding houses. That’s a business so that would mean that they have their own houses. You are just there for your business. We will prohibit having that kind of business in that area.)

Chan said the space that would be saved in not having the boarding houses would be used for the access roads into the area so that authorities could promptly respond in case of emergencies in the area like that fire on Saturday, July 13.

Read more: Lapu fire leaves over 100 families homeless

Fire Supt. Crispulo Eusebio Jr., Lapu-Lapu City fire marshall, told CDN in an interview that the fire broke out at 11:50 p.m. of July 13 in Purok Ube.

Eusebio said that it took them almost three hours to place the fire under control because of the narrow passageways in the area.

The fire was just a few 100 meters away from the Lapu-Lapu Fire Station.

“”Nakaresponde kami kaagad noong pagtawag kasi nasa tapat lang naman kami. Kaso yung problema is yung pagpasok ng hose, malayo pa [from the fire truck]. Pinagdugtong-dugtong lang namin yung hose,” said Eusebio.

(We immediately responded to the incident when we received the call because the fire scene is just nearby. But when we came to the place, it was so hard to penetrate. We had to connect several water hoses to reach the fire scene.)

Eusebio said that the fire razed 200 houses in the area./dbs