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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Visayas devider Bacolod taps DHSUD to help secure land for fire victims

Bacolod taps DHSUD to help secure land for fire victims

Published Sep 22, 2025 06:39 pm
CLEARING operations ongoing in Barangay 27, Bacolod City following a fire on Sept. 12. (Photo via Mayor Greg Gasataya)
CLEARING operations ongoing in Barangay 27, Bacolod City following a fire on Sept. 12. (Photo via Mayor Greg Gasataya)
BACOLOD CITY – This highly-urbanized city is seeking the assistance of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) to facilitate the city’s plan to secure the ownership of a 7,787-square-meter property in Barangay 27 ravaged by fire earlier this month.
Mayor Greg Gasataya said on Monday, Sept. 22, that a formal request has been finalized asking the DHSUD to coordinate with the Office of the President as a presidential proclamation is needed to authorize local use of the nationally owned land.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and DHSUD will assess the property and submit recommendations to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
The land, previously under the Philippine Alien Property Administration linked to the Department of Justice (DOJ) United States in the 1950s, is now titled under the Republic of the Philippines.
Clearing operations began recently, aided by the barangay and various city offices. These were requested by the fire victims and barangay officials to prepare the area for possible reconstruction.
Most displaced residents want to return and rebuild on-site. However, Gasataya emphasized the need for a 3.5-meter-wide emergency access path.
Of the 290 families affected, 124 remain in a school evacuation center.
The Sept. 12 midnight fire caused by electrical arcing destroyed 141 homes, damaged one, and displaced 148 renters and sharers in Puroks Acacis, Cheriza I, and Cheriza II.
The DHSUD will also provide financial assistance to the fire victims.
Gasataya said that fire victims with totally damaged houses will each receive P30,000, and P10,000 for a partially damaged house. The assistance is only intended for property owners, he said.
The mayor said that the city is coordinating with other agencies that could help assist fire victims purchase materials to rebuild their homes.
Meanwhile, a 49-year-old man linked to the fire was arrested in a buy-bust operation in Barangay 30, this city, on Sunday, Sept. 21.
Police Lt. Adrian Mananquil, deputy commander of Police Station 6, said that authorities confiscated two grams of suspected shabu valued at P13,600 from Fritz.
The suspect, tagged as a street-level individual and listed in the barangay drugs watchlist, has been monitored by police even before the blaze occurred, according to Mananquil.
The fire allegedly started in the house of the suspect.
Mananquil said the suspect alleged that the house was being occupied by his children and he was present when the fire struck. The suspect and his live-in partner surfaced two days after the fire.
Drug charges are being readied against the suspect.
Gasataya is leaving the investigation to the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) and the BFP.

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Bacolod City Fire
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