Despite a fire that destroyed their homes last Dec. 27, 2016, affected families along NIA road in Quezon City remained optimistic about 2017. (Photo by JOHN PAUL R. AUTOR/Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Despite the loss of their homes and most of their possessions in a six-hour fire on Dec. 27, residents of NIA Road in Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City, welcomed the new year with optimism, sharing what little food they had with their neighbors.
As the hours ticked down to 2017, a dozen children were dancing to the beat of electronic dance music on the dimly-lit road.
Tony Borja, 30, smiled as he remembered previous New Year’s Eve celebrations in which the road was full of lights, dancing kids and tables laden with food.
He owned the set of speakers being used for the street party. It was all Borja managed to save from his house which was among some 500 destroyed in the fire.
According to the report from the Quezon City Fire District, the fire killed 74-year-old Corazon Teozon, whose body was found inside her house. Three other people sustained minor injuries. At least P2 million worth of property was lost in the blaze whose cause remained under investigation.
“We need music right now as the New Year is just hours away. We need to be happy, especially the children, so we will all be happy in 2017,” Borja said.
Not far away, Fidela Carba was preparing her family’s media noche: biko (glutinous rice cake), a small pan of menudo, and spaghetti.
The food would not be enough for her family although she said she would willingly share it with her neighbors.
“Even if we lose everything, our lives should go on. We are not losing hope that the new year will be good to us,” she said.
Another fire victim, 61-year-old Letty Arevalo, has trouble walking but she got out of her makeshift shelter—a tent made of patched-up pieces of tarpaulin—to greet her neighbors a happy New Year.
“We lost everything in the fire but I am glad that no one among us was hurt,” she said.
“This is nothing new. Our house and everything we had also burned down in a fire a few years back. We survived that. I am sure that we will survive this, too, as long as we are together,” said her niece, Eleanor Cantojos.