MANILA Mayor Joseph E. Estrada has ordered the clearing of evacuating families currently staying at the Delpan Sports Complex and other evacuation centers in Tondo, Manila, explaining that ample help has been doled out to the fire victims and the remaining evacuees are simply “overstaying” their welcome.
On the evening of February 9, 2017, fire razed the Parola compound in Tondo after a candle was reportedly left unattended in one of the homes in the slum community. The destructive blaze went on raging for 10 hours, leaving damage amounting to P6 million to P7 million, and over 2,000 families rendered homeless.
Some of the victims went back to their home provinces, others simply moved to a different slum community, while close to 500 families sought temporary shelter at the Delpan Sports Complex. More than five months after the destructive fire, 182 families remain at the complex.
In a news release, the mayor said it’s time for these families to go in order to give way to the needed repairs and cleanup of the city-owned facilities.
Nanet Tanyag of the Manila Department of Social Welfare (MDSW) seconded this, saying the evacuation facilities badly need repairs in its plumbing and sanitary systems, such as the toilets.
“Before our city engineers could do [repair works], we have to clear out those two facilities,” Tanyag said, stressing the need for the centers to be ready for any emergency use in the future.
The city government said Estrada donated P20 million worth of construction materials to repair the victims’ damaged houses, and that each family received eight pieces of iron sheets, 23 pieces of lumber, five pieces of plywood and assorted nails. Other relief assistance options were also offered, such as educational and capital assistance, food-for-work programs and return-to-the-province programs.
Groups, like the Samahan ng mga Renter sa Parola and Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay-Manila), have staged several protests in the past five months, insisting the local government has been ignoring their pleas of on-site relocation, which would let them return to their community and small-time enterprises in the Parola compound.
There is no strict deadline for the evacuating families to clear the evacuation centers, and Estrada wishes to assure the public that no force will be used to remove the evacuees from the centers.