Fire Hazard

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The Bureau of Fire Protection in Negros Occidental is currently suffering from a shortage of gasoline for its fire trucks all over the province because according to provincial BFP chief Supt. Fred Trajeras, it has not received any budget for its gasoline allowance from July to September from their regional office.

If this delay in the release of the budget continues, it will have a direct impact on the delivery of the department’s services to the people of Negros, especially in the ability of government firefighters to respond in case of fires. Aside from the gasoline problem, there are also complaints of delayed releases of salaries and other benefits of BFP personnel in Negros Occidental.

Supt. Trajeras says that the BFP in Negros Occ. continues to be able to do most of its duties because of the support of the local governments. The presence of highly active volunteer fire and rescue groups has also been instrumental in making the public feel relatively safe even when it turns out that the BFP brass has not exactly been providing its people with the basic resources they need to function properly.

We don’t know if the reason for the relatively simple budget problems are due to sheer incompetence or ugly politics, but national government and BFP officials should consider it a slap to the face when they cannot even provide the fire trucks of an entire province the gasoline they need to be able to carry out their mandate.

The Aquino administration has been working hard to give its people the impression that our government is slowly but surely functioning as it should. The leadership of government agencies like the BFP shouldn’t allow its fire trucks to run out of something as basic as gasoline.*