Wildlife park in QC turns into evacuation center

A nature center named after President Benigno Aquino III's assassinated father was hastily converted into an evacuation center for 200 families who lost their homes to a fire in a squatter colony in Quezon City Tuesday afternoon. Children and elderly citizens crowded the amphitheater and Balintataw building of the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center, according to a report by radio dzBB's Cecilia Villarosa Wednesday. City social workers have been visiting the site since Tuesday night to give food to the displaced families. Bobby Fortuno, head of Vasra village where the fire occurred, appealed for clothes, drinking water and school supplies for the children attending school.

On the other hand, the park's management admitted they did not know how long they can allow the families to stay in the amphitheater. At least one person was injured in Tuesday afternoon's fire, which also damaged offices in the nearby Department of Agriculture building. Arson investigators estimated the damage to property at P5 million. Meanwhile, Fortuno allayed fears by the affected families the fire may have been deliberate, to make way for a proposed central business district in the city. He said he has not received any notice from the city government to have the residents moved out to make way for the supposed business district. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV