ILOILO City – Financial assistance to fire victims here would be increased, announced Mayor Jose Espinosa III.
For totally damaged houses, the owners would be receiving P10,000, up from the previous assistance of P7,000.
On the other hand, owners of partially damaged houses would be getting P7,000. The previous assistance was P5,000.
In increasing the financial aid, Espinosa cited, among others, the high cost of housing materials nowadays.
“Fire victims need to rebuild their houses,” he stressed.
This was the second increase in the cash assistance to fire victims since Espinosa became mayor in 2017. The city government originally allotted P5,000 and P2,500 to totally and partially damaged houses, respectively.
Aside from cash assistance, the city government also releases food packs and other items that address the basic needs of fire victims.
According to Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Iloilo City fire investigator Senior Fire Officer 1 Rollin Hormina, three most common causes of fire were electrical connections (overloaded or with loose connections), open flame (such as unattended cooking, stove and ashes left after cooking) and lighted candles or gasera.
BFP-Iloilo City recorded 129 fire incidences from January to March 26 this year. According to Hormina, these were 76.71 percent higher than the 73 recorded last year from January to March 26.
Estimate of the property damage reached P3,785,800. (With a report from Iloilo City PIO/PN)
