Groups eye probe into series of fires near reclamation project sites

A fire razes a residential area in Barangay Niog I, Bacoor City, Cavite on February 10, 2024. (Photo from Pamalakaya-Cavite)  

MANILA, Philippines — Members of progressive urban poor and fisherfolk groups said on Monday that they intend to investigate the consecutive fires in their communities in Cavite, suspecting that the successive blazes may be deliberate.

In a joint statement, Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay)-Cavite and Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) – Cavite expressed concern over the successive fires in February, which they “highly believe” have been intentional.

According to Kadamay and Pamalakaya, this is because the coastal areas they reside in have impending infrastructure and reclamation projects and the fires may have been a tactic to drive them away from the site.

“Given these circumstantial precedents, there is a high probability that the fire incidents were not by accident, but rather intentional,” Aries Solenad, Pamalakaya-Cavite’s Secretary General, said in a statement.

“It has been established that setting a community on fire is the easiest and most effective way to demolish an entire community to pave the way for projects for corporate aggression,” he added.

The activist groups logged the following fires in their communities in Cavite last month:

• February 8 – Brgy. Aniban II, Bacoor City, 34 families affected;
• February 9 – Brgy. Pulvorista, Kawit, 50 families affected;
• February 10 – Brgy. Niog I, Bacoor City, 91 families affected with three individuals injured;
• February 17 – Brgy. Niog I, Bacoor City, 88 families affected; and
• February 27 – Brgy. Talaba VII, Bacoor City, more than 50 families affected.

“We are having this sinister scheme investigated and we will hold the mastermind accountable,” Solenad continued.

In a separate statement, the groups said that they will stage protest actions to denounce the allegedly deliberate blazes which they said have led to the permanent displacement of residents in their coastal communities.