Protesters burn an effigy of Rodrigo Duterte with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping during a rally commemorating the 156th birthday of Andres Bonifacio in Manila on Saturday. Agence France-Presse

Manolo B. Jara

Fire swept through a shantytown in suburban Mandaluyong City in Metro Manila, and raged uncontrolled for more than eight hours, injuring at least 13 people and rendering homeless 1,600 families or close to 9,-000 individuals, according to officials.

Superintendent Christine Cala, the city fire marshall, said the fire, which started shortly after 3 pm on Friday, destroyed about 400 houses before it was put under control more than eight hours later shortly before midnight also on Friday.

One of the 13 injured, Cala said, was a nine-year-boy, a member of a “volunteer fire brigade,” who was hit on the head by a plastic pail filled with water while helping residents put out the flames.

Cala said they have yet to establish the cause of the fire that hit the slum area in a “barangay” (village) in Mandaluyong City amid reports that it started from a room rented by one of the victims.

Cala added that responding firemen had difficulty putting out the fire because most of the houses, aside from being made of light materials, were built close to each other. Also hampering the firemen, she said, were strong winds that fanned the flames.

“Besides, our firefighters, Cala pointed out, “had difficulty getting into the area because of the narrow alleys which were blocked by thousands of residents, many of them barefoot, leading to the scene as they tried to save their belongings.” The fire raged unabated to such an extent that it reached “Task Force Alpha” requiring the assistance of more firetrucks outside the city, including those deployed to the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) which formally opened on Saturday night.

Mandaluyong City Mayor Menchie Abalos assured financial and other assistance to the affected residents, most of whom sought refuge in nine covered courts amid fears they were likely to spend Christmas Day there.

The tragedy occurred less than a week after fire hit a five-stormy pension house in Bacolod City in Negros Occidental province in the Visayas, killing six people, four of them members of the family of the owner, on Nov.26.

Arson investigators said members of the family of the owner, identified as businessman Christopher Java, including his mother and 12-year-old son, apparently died of suffocation and were trapped inside their rooms.