Lack of space, options leave city slums at higher risk of large fires

MANILA — While the country grapples with excessive rainfall and failing flood-control projects, Filipino households face another danger silently waiting to explode and take thousands of homes and lives in an instant — fire. 

On March 6, a widespread fire destroyed the homes of more than 4,000 families in a densely populated residential area along the NIA Road in Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City. A second fire took 70 more families’ homes a month later. 

At least 2,200 families also lost their homes in a massive 10-hour fire that set ablaze Barangay 105 in Happyland in Tondo, Manila a year ago.

Department of Social Welfare and Development records showed at least 20 other fire episodes that engulfed homes of hundreds of families in Tondo over the past five years.

Most of the fires were in  Happyland, Isla Puting Bato, Dagupan Extension and Baseco Compound. 

These informal settlement areas are characterized by severe overpopulation that forces residents to live in substandard housing conditions, posing a high risk of rapid, widespread fires.

In the first half of 2026 alone, the Bureau of Fire Protection recorded 38 fire incidents in informal settlement communities in Metro Manila.

Manila logged the most with 10 incidents, followed by Quezon City with nine. Most of these were attributed to electrical problems.

No resident of informal settlement communities lives there by choice. 

Many were country people forced to migrate to cities, where jobs pay higher than in provinces, said Mimi Doringo, secretary-general of the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay).

Labor groups and activists have been calling to abolish this localized wage-setting system that causes economic inequality and mass rural migration. They say that the cost of living is also high in the provinces, where wages are lower to encourage investment.

One manifestation of this is the Filipinos’ overpopulation of city areas with cheap rent but below-decent living conditions. 

Homes in informal settlement communities are constructed extremely close together, with no firewalls, and with light materials like wood, plywood, plastic tarpaulins, cardboard, and sometimes even tires.

Their lack of legal claim to the land they occupy leaves them with no home tenure no right to renovate to mitigate risks in the place that should provide them safety, Doringo noted.

“Yung pagpapaayos ng bahay nila, kailangan pang humingi ng permit — permit sa NHA (National Housing Authority), sa barangay — na alam naman nating ginagamit ding paraan para atakihin sila,” she said.

(They will need a permit from the NHA, from the barangay if they want to do renovations and repairs — and we know that is used against them.)  

The communities, with no means to adhere to city planning and building regulations, also lack access to basic services including clean water, proper sanitation, and utilities.

All these factors make informal settlement communities prone to conflagrations, or the rapid spread of fire in a wide area, according to BFP spokesperson Anthony Arroyo. 

The bureau knows informal settlement communities are fire-prone areas and has come up with stop-gap solutions to mitigate the risks.

He said narrow alleys — through which fire trucks cannot pass — and residents running out during fire incidents make suppression operations more challenging.

So the BFP installed markers to help firefighters determine the number of firehose lines that could reach densely populated areas, and launched the Obligasyon sa Bayan, Ligtas na Pamayanan Program to raise residents’ awareness on  fire prevention and suppression.

The BFP, in partnership with water utilities and local governments, also installed hydrants and standpipes to augment the thin water supply.

BFP meanwhile said it also struggles with a lack of resources across its 17 central fire stations and 141 “strategically-located” substations. 

The central fire stations have two to three fire trucks, emergency medical services and aerial ladders, while the substations have at least one fire truck each. 

One fire truck, with 28 personnel, should be deployed per population of 28,000, Arroyo said.

With the National Capital Region having a population of 14 million according to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s 2024 data, that means Metro Manila needs  at least 500 trucks.

As of August, however, there are only 248 fire trucks and 3,694 BFP personnel in the capital region.

Republic Act No. 11589, or the BFP Modernization Act, grants the bureau 2,000 additional personnel annually, but Arroyo stressed: “Hindi pa sapat ang karagdagang iyan (That increases is not enough).”

The BFP continues to lobby Congress to increase the number of new people it can hire a year to between 3,000 and 4,000 and to add more equipment, including fire trucks, ambulances, rescue vans and boats, aerial ladders and first aid suppression team (FAST) motorcycles.

“Sa totoo lang, dahil sa mga nangyayaring recent na austerity measures (To be honest, because of recent austerity measures), we are maximizing [the] budget intended for our operational capabilities,” Arroyo said.

The National Expenditure Program proposes a P38-billion budget for the BFP nexxt year, up from P35 billion in 2026. 

The BFP collects around P3 billion a year from conducting fire safety inspections.

The bulk of that, 80 percent, goes to the national treasury. The remaining 20 percent is to upgrade local branches, said Arroyo. 

Kadamay says welcomes government resettlement projects for the urban poor, but said these should be in-city or on-site and implemented through a comprehensive program. 

Resettlement in areas with no access to social services and to livelihood opportunities have often forced residents to go back to where they were moved away from.

Last April, the Quezon City local government announced a vertical housing project along NIA Road for those affected by the March 6 fire, in partnership with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development and the NHA.  

Kadamay however said government seems to lack a plan for it and that the P60,000 in financial assistance for temporarily displaced residents is insufficient.

Doringo said that with the high cost of materials, the P60,000, which she said is released in tranches, is not enough to rebuild.

“Tapos namroblema ka rin saan mo naman itatayo kasi ayaw ka nang bigyan [ng pwesto],” she said. 

(And there is the problem of where to build since they will not allot you a space to do it.)

The DSWD also provides fire victims with financial and other forms of assistance, under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations program. 

Highlighting the lack of temporary housing for the affected residents, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights also criticized the project and violent eviction and demolition on April 9, a month after the first fire.

It said residents were in a meeting when the demolition team and the police arrived, so they could not protect their homes. 

The CTUHR noted it was “ironic that government housing buildings will supposedly be built in the ruins of an urban poor community that has just suffered a devastating fire and a violent demolition.”

The fires have also been surrounded by rumors of arson to force the residents to leave government land.

Doringo said residents can resist attempts to evict them and demolish their homes, but fire is a different matter.

“Walang magme-maintain sa sunog, lahat magtatakbuhan palabas,” she said.

(You cannot hold the line during a fire, you all have to run to safety.)

Doringo said communities have launched their “Bantay Sunog” initiatives, where residents volunteer for shifts to ensure fires are promptly suppressed.

The BFP has officially attributed the second fire to copper that burned in an abandoned house.  

ABS-CBN News sought the NHA’s comment on the alleged arson, but has not yet received a response as of writing. 

Relocatees should not be forced to move to a far-flung area for permanent housing and should still have access to basic utilities, livelihood, and community, said Doringo. 

The urban poor representative urged the government to initiate consultations that involve all affected residents, not only with a quorum or community representatives.  

“Dapat ang LGU ang bumababa sa mga community kung paano sila pag nangangampanya, dapat ganoon din sila pag nagpapaabot ng kung ano mang mga impormasyon,” she said. 

(The LGU should visit the community the way they do during the election campaign. They should be that hands-on in disseminating information.)

The Kadamay leader stressed that while the urban poor exert efforts to improve their living conditions, the government should also do its share of responsibility in helping them achieve a decent quality of life.

“Ang gusto natin, ang pabahay para sa mga maralita ay maging serbisyo talaga’t hindi papasok sa negosyo kung saan maraming diskriminasyon pa bago ka makapasok bilang benepisyaryo,” Doringo said. 

(What we want is that housing for the poor will be treated as a service and not a business where you have to go through so many obstacles to be a beneficiary.)