SOME 4,000 squatters displaced by a New Year fire in Barangay Apolonio Samson, Balintawak in District 4, Quezon City will have permanent homes in Bocaue, Bulacan, Mayor Herbert Bautista on Friday said.
Balintawak on January 2, 2014 where a fire left
a shantytown in ashes. The blaze was believed
to have been caused by firecrackers during
New Year revelry. AFP
“I have been told by the Quezon City Police District and Bureau of Fire Protection that the place is no longer habitable,” he said. “We can only allow men to go back to their damaged houses only to retrieve things (in the debris).”.
House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and the city government’s heads of the housing department, Department of Public Order and Safety, Social Services and Development Department and health office have met National Housing Authority general manager Chito Cruz to put a date to the relocation and identify beneficiaries of agency’s low-cost housing program in Bocaue, Bulacan, he said.
Other fire victims who could afford to pay over a P2,000 monthly amortization would be offered a unit at the city government’s Bistekville shelter program, Bautista said.
As early as 2012, the city government has planned the relocation in a grid template.
“Those in the northwest quadrant, including the fire victims in Barangay Apolonio Samson, will be transferred to Bocaue, just 15 minutes from their original sites,” he said.
Informal settlers from Fairview, Batasan Hills and Lagro will be transferred to Rodriguez, Rizal and Norzagaray, Bulacan, while those in the southwest quadrant, such as Escopa in Project 4 and the vicinity of Blue Ridge Subdivision, will go to Antipolo City, Rizal, he said.
Arson investigators said the fire started when a skyrocket or “kwitis” exploded in the houseof one Janine Lopez on Jan. 1 at 6:45 a.m.