Purok Islam needs answers, not just relief

On the night of October 25, fire once again tore through Purok Islam in Barangay Dadiangas South, General Santos City. It consumed ukay-ukay stalls and homes that Muslim families depend on for their daily survival.

For this community, fire is not a rare misfortune. On the morning of December 28, 2018, a blaze in front of the city's central public market razed at least 100 houses, boarding houses and vendor stalls, most of them made of light materials. It left about 200 families homeless, the Philippine News Agency reported. The Department of Social Welfare and Development later released ₱5,000 each in one-time cash assistance to 161 eligible families.

Seven months later, on July 23, 2019, fire swept an adjacent stretch along P. Acharon Boulevard. A five-year-old girl died, trapped in her home, and 123 families were left homeless, MindaNews reported. Both fires were traced to electrical problems; the 2019 blaze was blamed on overloaded lines from illegal connections.

For a small vendor, a fire does not destroy merchandise alone. It wipes out working capital, the money that pays for the next day's goods, the children's school needs and the family's meals. Many of these traders operate on thin margins. One night can erase years of effort.

Relief goods and emergency assistance matter, and they are welcome. But relief answers the fire. It does not answer why the fires keep coming.

The questions are not complicated, and the people of Purok Islam deserve plain answers:

• What caused the October 25 fire, according to the official investigation?
• Electrical hazards were blamed in both 2018 and 2019. What was done afterward to fix the wiring and illegal connections in the area?
• How quickly did the Bureau of Fire Protection respond on October 25, and did narrow access or water supply slow the response?
• How many families and vendors were affected this time, by verified count?
• What livelihood assistance and temporary selling spaces will be made available?

These are not accusations. A fair accounting would give the BFP and the city government the chance to show what they did and what they plan to do. That accounting should be made public.

There is a second set of questions the community has carried for years. MindaNews reported in 2019 that the land where that year's fire struck is owned by the AFP Retirement and Separation Benefits System. After the 2018 fire, the barangay council had to negotiate with the site's owner just to let families rebuild their homes. Residents deserve clear information about their legal standing, any development plans for the land, and any housing or relocation assistance available to them. Nothing on record links the land's ownership to the fires, and none should be assumed. But the families who live there must be consulted before any decision is made about their future.

Purok Islam is more than a cluster of stalls and houses. It is home to the Purok Islam Mosque, one of the city's major places of worship, and to a Muslim community that has built its life around it. Protecting Purok Islam means protecting that life, not only the structures.

The October 25 fire should be the last one that ends with relief packs and nothing more. The authorities have the records. The community is owed the answers.