Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte has urged the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to assign a new fire marshal and a new inspection head for the Quezon City Fire District (QCFD) following a series of fire incidents in the city which resulted in the tragic deaths of several people and significant loss to properties.
Mayor Joy Belmonte
“The capability and effectiveness of the BFP-QCFD in responding to these fires have lessened significantly. The city government recognizes that each fire has its own distinct volatile circumstances. Nonetheless, the severity of this year's incidents necessitates a call for a change in the leadership of the agency. A change is needed for the welfare of our citizens. We look forward to a better performance from the BFP," Belmonte said.
She had earlier sought the relief of two QCFD officials -BFP-QCFD Fire Marshal Senior Supt. Aristotle Bañaga, and QCFD Fire Prevention Branch Chief Fire Chief Insp. Dominic Salvacion - following a review of the performance of the agency which was prompted by the fire incident in the t-shirt factory in Barangay Tandang Sora in the city on Aug. 31.
The blaze left 15 persons dead and one person injured.
Belmonte called on the BFP to undertake reforms in the BFP-QCFD after the Quezon City Council revealed several lapses in the performance of the QCFD such as lax inspection on fire incidents and backlog in the examination of businesses, among others.
“The BFP has failed to reciprocate the city government’s efforts to exercise transparency. They resisted our calls to be apprised of the progress of their own probe, or to our requests for coordination. We therefore ask the BFP to cooperate fully with the city government as mandated by law, to ensure full transparency and clarity in these investigations. Our people demand more, and the victims and their families deserve nothing less,” the mayor said.
The city’s top executive had earlier ordered the City Legal Department to form a Special Panel of Investigators that will investigate the Tandang Sora fire and if warranted by evidence, to file the appropriate case(s) against pertinent and surviving officers of the business establishment involved in the incident.
Belmonte also said that city government personnel found to be liable after the conduct of the investigation will likewise face administrative and criminal charges.
“The city government continues to thoroughly investigate the devastating fire of August 31. It has coordinated with and interviewed its departments, the barangay, the homeowners association, the relatives of the victims, and the survivors, to ascertain the circumstances that brought about this tragedy. We will leave no stone unturned, and we will not spare even our own officials and personnel,” she said.
Tragic loss of lives
"The BFP should look into how the BFP-QCFD fulfilled its mandate in the light of tragic loss of lives and properties due to recent fires in the city. Were the BFP-QCFD leadership remiss in their duties? They should hold their personnel accountable if proven guilty of inefficiency," the local chief executive said.
The city government said it conducted an evaluation of each fire incident that occurred this year which showed on average, more damage, injury, and death compared to the previous year.
It added that based on the data from the BFP, there were already 153 fires recorded in the city from January to August 2023, while there were only 219 fire incidents from January to December 2022.
The data also showed that there have already been eight firefighters and 63 civilians injured in the fire incidents compared to only two firefighters and 60 civilians for the whole 2022.
According to the city government, there were already 24 deaths in the first eight months of this year while there were 30 from January to December 2022.
It added that were also 8,362 individuals or 2,380 families affected by the fires up to August this year which is higher than the of 7,295 individuals or 2,005 families recorded for the entire year of 2022.
The mayor also extended financial aid to the families of the fire victims on Thursday, Sept. 14.
The city government said it helped arrange the cremation of the remains of the deceased Tandang Sora fire victims and provided other assistance as well.
Belmonte assured the residents that the city government will continue to strengthen the city’s fire prevention measures and efforts.