Woman gives birth amid huge Tondo fire

A woman gave birth to a baby during a massive fire in Tondo, Manila, it was reported Sunday on 24 Oras Weekend.

According to some barangay personnel, responders from the Philippine Red Cross delivered a baby girl during the midst of the fire. Both mother and baby are under the care of the Tondo Medical Center.

Almost 2,000 families or more than 8,000 residents lost their homes due to the fire in Road 10, Barangay 105.

The fire began Saturday afternoon and lasted past midnight before the fire was declared out.

On Sunday morning, some residents returned to their still smoldering homes in attempts to salvage some belongings.

“Ibebenta na po muna namin yan. Bibili ng pagkain, bibili ng bigas,” fire victim Loreto Sail said.

(We will sell what we can so that we have money to buy food and rice.)

Some residents said they went back to their homes because there was not enough space in the evacuation sites.

“Kase wala kaming matitirhan ayaw namin umano sa barangay kase punong puno na ang barangay eh,” said fire victim Alicia Tublon.

(We can't find any space in the barangay. We don’t want to stay there because it's too crowded.)

The overwhelmed barangay is coordinating with the Manila City local government (LGU) for assistance.

“Nasa masterlist na po na pamilya, 1,900 plus po. Hiindi pa po kami tapos. Hindi po sapat yung main evacuation center,” Barangay Chairperson Elenita Reyes said.

(There are over 1,900 families in our master list. We are still not done with our counting. The main evacuation cannot accommodate them all.)

According to the Manila LGU, online and face-to-face classes in Gen. Vicente Lim Elementary School are suspended on Monday. It is one of the evacuation centers designated for the fire victims.

The Bureau of Fire Protection is investigating the cause of the fire.—Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA Integrated News