malaysiangPUERTO PRINCESA: Hundreds of homes in two densely populated coastal barangays in this city were engulfed in a massive structural fire that broke out early Wednesday morning.
Based on the assessment of the Puerto Princesa City Fire Station, about 920 families living in some 450 houses were forced to relocate due to the incident.
The structures that were gutted were constructed from light materials in Bagong Silang and Pagkakaisa villages, situated near the cruise port project currently being developed by the government.
Residents reported that the strong winds exacerbated the rapid spread of the fire which, according to their accounts, began in Barangay Bagong Silang and spread towards Pagkakaisa.
Carrying only a few belongings they could salvage, they fled their engulfed houses and sought shelter on Roxas Street and Reynoso Street.
More than a hundred individuals, including children and the elderly, found refuge in the sea, utilizing the low tide to their advantage.
Some residents of stilt houses jumped
into the seawater to escape the flames and thick smoke.
Margie Arcina, a resident of Bagong Silang, said she failed to retrieve any belongings during the fire as her top priority was the safety of her children.
“I didn’t save anything because I first rescued my children, then my youngest child went missing. It turned out my mother-in-law took him up there (Reynoso Street). My house was gutted by the fire,” she said.
Arcina believed that the fire started in a neighboring house, from which a couple had departed at about 2 a.m.
Cristobal Bolan and his family made their way along the city bay shoreline to flee from the fire. His father, whom he mentioned was already paralyzed, was among those rescued and evacuated, along with other relatives.
“We had no choice, but to jump to the sea because we had no way out,” he narrated. “There were many of us, those from the area near the water-my father’s there on the shore,” Bolan said.
Several children were also spotted in the water with their heads above the surface
, shouting for help, according to one resident’s account.
“There were many people there in the sea -mostly children- needing to be rescued,” the resident said.
Personnel from the nearby Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Palawan station were among the responders to the incident. They formed a line, passing buckets and basins filled with water, which they then used to douse the houses situated near the road.
Water tankers were also dispatched by the Puerto Princesa City Water District and the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) to provide essential support.
City information officer Richard Ligad said a meeting was ongoing with the CDRRMO, the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), the City Administrator’s Office, Schools Division Office of the Department of Education and other relevant line offices and agencies to discuss the welfare of the displaced residents.
“We are already having a meeting for the benefit of the fire victims to help determine where we will temporarily bring
them,” he said.
Gov’t assistance
House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, acting as the caretaker of the third congressional district of Palawan, announced the mobilization of government resources to assist the fire victims.
He assured that the government is committed to providing immediate and effective aid to the victims, ensuring they receive the support needed to rebuild their lives.
“In these trying times, it is imperative that we come together as a nation to support our fellow Filipinos. The provision of financial assistance is a crucial step in our concerted efforts to aid in their recovery,” he said in a statement.
With the urgency of the situation, Romualdez has endorsed the allocation of funds under the 2024 General Appropriations Act, which includes the provision of assistance, amounting to PHP10,000 per family affected, through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
DSWD spokesperson Romel Lopez said af
fected individuals and families have received immediate assistance from the agency.
Lopez said DSWD 4-B (Mimaropa) has distributed 200 family food packs (FFPs), 200 sanitary kits, and other non-food items to the families.
‘The immediate distribution of aid is being carried out to ensure that essential supplies reach those affected right on time. Tents that will serve as temporary shelters for the affected families are also being prepared,’ he said.
He said DSWD 4-B, in coordination with the City Social Welfare and Development Office and the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, is currently conducting profiling of the affected families.
‘This necessary step helps the agency in identifying specific needs and providing targeted assistance to those who were affected by the fire incident, according to the extent of damages the victims incurred,’ Lopez said.
Meanwhile, the offices of the Speaker and Tingog Party-list are also preparing 3,500 food packs for the victims from their respective Perso
nal Calamity Assistance Funds.
Source: Philippines News Agency
New York: The profound love that Merle Ratner, a left-wing and anti-war US activist who passed away on February 5, gave to Vietnam during her entire life will be always in the hearts of Vietnamese people.
Ratner passed away in a traffic accident in New York on February 5 evening.
Merle Evelyn Ratner was born to a Jewish-American family in New York City in 1956. At the age of 13, she actively took part in the anti-war movement and showed her support for the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam. At that time, the public in the US and the world were impressed by a small girl climbing the Statue of Liberty and waving the red flag with a yellow star and slogans calling for an end to the wrongful war.
She used to say that images of the destructive war in Vietnam and the stories about napalm bombs and toxic chemicals killing a large number of people had urged her to take to the streets to do something meaningful to help Vietnam.
Inspired by the sympathies and love for the S-shaped country, Ratner s
ought to read documents and writings about President Ho Chi Minh, General Vo Nguyen Giap, and the just struggle of the Vietnamese people. The more she learned about Vietnam, the more strongly she supported the fight for independence, freedom, and national reunification of its people.
To this left-wing activist, the day of April 30, 1975 was not only the day of complete victory for Vietnam but also a happy day of all progressive and peace-loving people around the world.
After 1975, with her stronger love for Vietnam, Ratner campaigned for the normalisation of the Vietnam – US relations and supported many international activities of Vietnam. During 1976 – 1979, she and her husband, Prof. Ngo Thanh Nhan, promoted the establishment of an association of patriotic overseas Vietnamese in the US to call on the US Government to normalise the relations with and lift the embargo on Vietnam.
She used to visit the Southeast Asian country for many times and work with mass organisations, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and
the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.
Ratner was a co-founder and coordinator of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC) in the New York region. She worked tirelessly to appeal to organisations and individuals to support Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange and to the US Government to compensate the victims. Over the past years, she collected tens of millions of signatures via the internet to help Agent Orange victims of Vietnam to launch lawsuits.
Ratner was awarded the “For the Development of Vietnamese Women” insignia in 2010 and the ‘For Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange’ insignia in 2013 in recognition of her enormous contributions.
Jonathan Moore, a lawyer and a board member of the VAORRC, regarded Ratner as a steadfast friend, tirelessly advocating for the rights of AO victims in Vietnam throughout her life. He said she will be remembered by those fighting for dignity and social justice.
Le Thanh Chung, a Vietnamese expatriate in New York, assessed the activist
as being unwaveringly faithful to communist ideals and believing in socialism as the true path to happiness for the people. Notably, Ratner devoted her pure and loyal love to Vietnam, Chung said.
In a recent interview with Vietnam News Agency correspondents in New York on February 1 on the occasion of the 94th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Ratner once again emphasised the leadership role of the CPV as the decisive factor in all of the nation’s achievements and victories. She affirmed that the CPV has steadfastly pursued the path of socialism and advocated for socialist values worldwide, with Vietnam certain to succeed on the chosen path.
Amidst the constant changes in the world, increasing right-wing nationalism, and increasingly fierce competition among major powers, she believed that Vietnam’s foreign policy of “Four Nos” and “bamboo diplomacy” approach – which means flexible in practice yet unwavering in principles – demonstrate the rightness and help Vietnam ensure peace,
independence and sovereignty, and achieve many meaningful accomplishments./.
Source: Vietnam News Agency
