This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 5, March 5-11, 2006
Even the Finest Fire
Station Cries for Help
The Paco Fire Station is
considered the best in the country because of the dedication of its
firefighters. However, they still lament the lack of government support and the
passage of a law that could prevent older firefighters from being promoted and
consequently getting a higher salary.
BY AUBREY MAKILAN Since 1929, the Paco Fire
Station has been serving residents in various areas of the city of Manila. In fact, hanging on its
walls are several plaques of recognition and commendation from government and
private institutions. There are still other plaques just kept in a box since the
station’s walls have run out of space. The Paco Fire Station was
commended for, among others, discovering ketamine last year amounting to $1.6
million from a supposedly burning house in Paco and saving some residents from a
burning building in Binondo in January. The firefighting team also
takes pride in being one of the cleanest fire stations in Metro Manila. Despite these achievements,
Fire Officer 2 (FO2) Ronald Lim lamented they are being forgotten “pagdating
sa biyaya.” (when it comes to blessings) They can no longer use
their snorkel fire truck which is very helpful when they need to climb burning
high-rise structures. But because of the high cost of repair, they were forced
to just park it in their garage. Another lament was their
lack of protective gear. Senior Fire Officer 2 (SFO2) Danilo Galang,
officer-in-charge of the station, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) gave them
seven sets of fire coats and boots only last December. However, he said that
these are not enough, given that there are 26 personnel at the Paco Fire Station
and 20 of them are actual firefighters. Before getting the seven
sets of coats and boots, Galang said that they used jackets instead of fire
coats and rubber boots instead of real firefighters’ boots. They never had
breathing apparatus essential for their survival when entering structures on
fire. Meanwhile, Lim said that
they find their own means when it comes to the maintenance of their station.
When they had to repaint their station in 2001, they asked a paint company for
donation. In return, the company took pictures of the station before and after
the painting that it used for its advertisement. Aside from the equipment,
another sentiment raised was the low salary and the passage of Republic Act No.
9263, which contained the professionalization of the BFP and other government
agencies. Galang said that because of
this law, older firefighters may not have the chance to be promoted since they
now have to pass the Civil Service Commission examination, a requirement for
promotion under RA No. 9263. But even if they are
demoralized due to lack of equipment and inadequate salary, Galang said that
their performance and dedication to their duty have never been sacrificed even
if they themselves had to make their own. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
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