Makati slum folk have ‘no choice’ after fire

“It looks like we’re the only squatters who are agreeable to a relocation,” street vendor Ernie Capote, 44, wryly said as he contemplated his fate following last week’s fire that razed a shantytown within the Makati City central business district.

Capote, his wife and their nine children have since taken shelter in a neighbor’s house left untouched by the flames at a slum area ironically called Botanical Garden in Barangay Pio del Pilar.

The rest of the fire victims are still crammed in tents along nearby Amorsolo Street, where they have been relying on relief goods from the city government.

Capote said he was willing to transfer to a resettlement area in Cavite province, citing information from the office of Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay.

He admitted that the spot his family had occupied since 1994 was not their own. The property actually belonged to the National Power Corp., according to Binay, who announced the relocation of the residents a day after the July 11 fire.

“We were left with no choice, but we wish they will show us first where we will be relocated,” said Josie Gadia, 60, who used to rent out a portion of her house to others.

Edgardo Copioso, a village watchman who rented a small space for P2,200 a month at Botanical, said he was content with the P5,000 financial assistance given by the city government. He said he lost his gadgets, a laptop and a stereo component in the fire.

But for Marivic Calayeg, a street sweeper, a change of address should not be that abrupt.

“Please give us two more years so we can adjust. Let our children finish their schooling here first,” said the mother of nine in a message addressed to Binay.

About 700 families out of the estimated 1,000 at Botanical lost their homes in the fire, which investigators suspected to have been caused by illegal power connections, according to city fire marshal Supt. Ricardo Perdigon.