Rama to Fire Victims: Always Pray

(Cebu City PIO) — Always pray. Mayor Michael L Rama repeated this several times as he urged the fire victims of Sitio Mansanitas in Barangay’s Cogon Pardo and Inayawan this city to pray to God always.

The People’s Mayor pointed out that in whatever situation we have to always pray to our Creator, adding that amid the recent fire last Easter Sunday that razed 55 houses and affected 148 families there is still a miracle for no one was hurt in the incident.

Rama was applauded several times in his message during the “City Hall at Your Doorsteps” program held at Inayawan Elementary School this Tuesday morning April 7, 2015. He gained the loudest applause when he said, “Kami nanganhi kay gipangga mo namo, (We came here because we care for you)”, adding that re-blocking has started to prevent another fire and that financial assistance and housing materials will be given as soon as possible.

He reiterated that the “City Hall at Your Doorsteps” will be conducted for three days in the Gymnasium of Inayawan Elementary School citing that this is a ‘Civic Action’ outreach program of the city to provide free basic services from the 22 departments comprising the Cebu City Government for everyone.

In an interview with the BARUGG News, Emma Gidocos, 55, married with 3 children and among the 605 individuals who are affected by the fire shared that, “Pasalamat gihapon mi sa Ginoo nga walay kinabuhing nakalas ug dako pod among pasalamat kang Mayor Rama kay wala mi pasagdi. Nanghinaot mi nga makabalik ug tukod sa among balay nga naugdaw (We are still thankful to God that no lives were lost and we are also thankful to Mayor Rama that we are not taken for granted. We are hoping to rebuild our burnt house.”

For Araceli Rusiana, 33, she stressed that the city government is doing their job well for helping us immediately, adding that it is better to be hit by a typhoon than the fire and even with our hard situation as we are back to zero we still trust God for us to recover from the tragedy and will not lose hope (Maayo pa mabagyohan kaysa masunogan, bisan lisod among sitwasyon kay back to zero, mosalig lang gihapon sa Ginoo nga makabangon sa trahedya ug balik ug dili mawad-an sa paglaum).

Furthermore, the mayor enthuses that together with our prayers let us be united to build life and live life with the spirit of Barangayan, Bayanihan and Boluntarismo. He wrapped-up his message with a prayer. (Cebu City Public Information Office PIO/Greggy Jiggs P. Senados)