‘Tent city’ an assurance for Manila fire victims

As part of its assistance to families displaced by a recent fire at the Port Area, the Manila City government is setting up a “tent city” on the sidewalks not far from their destroyed neighborhood, which sits on public land.

This is to allay their fears that they won’t be allowed to return and rebuild their homes at the site, according to Manila Social Welfare Department chief Nanet Tayag.

“Most of them work in the harbors so they won’t leave,” Tayag explained, referring to some 300 families who lost their homes in the fire that started on the night of Sept. 9 and raged for eight hours in Barangay 654, Pier 5.

The families had been living on a property owned by the Philippine Ports Authority, City Hall said in a statement on Tuesday.

The tents will be built along sidewalks near the area, said Tayag, who had received a directive from Mayor Joseph Estrada to also provide meals, clothes, blankets and medicines for the fire victims.

The same assistance is also being extended to some 20 families left homeless by another fire last week in Gagalangin, Tondo.