Lobregat gives cash aid to Zambo fire victims
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines/09 December 2009 by Vic Larato–Mayor Celso L. Lobregat today handed cash assistance over to 13 families whose houses went up in smoke in two fire incidents that hit the city early this year.
Among the recipients were six families who were victims of a fire that broke out last October 31 in Upper Calarian. Of the number, three families received P5,000 each for their totally damaged houses while two house sharers, whose houses were totally destroyed, received P3,000 each and a house owner in the amount or P3,000.
Seven other families, who were victims of the April 5, 2009 fire incident in Cawit, received similar assistance; five at P5,000 each and two at P3,000 each.
This, after the recipients signed a waiver that they will not return to or reconstruct their houses on the foreshore in Cawit as the area had been declared by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) as environmentally hazardous areas.
Recall, a fire broke out in the morning of April 5, this year on the thickly populated foreshore in Cawit, resulting in the destruction of several houses mostly on stilts, rendering more than 100 families homeless.
The city government under Lobregat’s administration and the barangay officials of Cawit immediately provided the fire victims with temporary shelter at the nearby elementary school and covered shed, food and clothing assistance.
At the same time, the city government in coordination with PENRO and the law enforcers prohibited the fire victims from returning to the burnt foreshore as it was prone to disaster like the storm surge.
Some fire victims resisted the ban while the others acceded after signing the waiver and receiving the government’s cash assistance. (Vic Larato)
