The tragic hotel fire that has claimed 72 lives in the Philippines’ capital Manila has rightly stirred considerable anger among Filipinos. The immediate focus of that rage is the Manor Hotel owner, who packed his rooms with beds, barred emergency exits, apparently to stop guest allowing friends in to stay, and then put irremovable bars over bedroom windows, so that firemen were unable to rescue those trapped inside the smoke-filled building. This man is rightly being brought to justice.
But the hotelier’s callous and dangerous behavior is hardly something new to the Philippines. Five years ago 160 teenagers perished in a Manila discotheque fire where there were no fire exits. Two years ago, 28 people, most of them young children, perished when fire swept through an orphanage, in which once again, fire safety precautions were nonexistent. These are only the most notable of a series of blazes in public buildings, in which people have perished needlessly because fire safety regulations have been ignored.
And make no mistake about it, fire regulations do exist in the Philippines, which experts say are some of the most comprehensive to be found in any developing country. Unfortunately though, all the rules in the world are of no use whatsoever unless they are enforced. The scale of the problem is perhaps made clear by the fact that the Philippines new president, Gloria Arroyo, has seen fit to order the prosecution of the hotelier and any city officials who may have connived at his breaking fire regulations. This is simply not the job of a president, unless of course there is absolutely no one beneath the country’s head of state, who sees any reason why they should take responsibility for enforcing the law.
The dereliction of duty here extends to everyone from the city mayor to the humblest official. It is not just the functionaries whose job was to apply fire regulations who have failed. The entire city administration stands accused at best of ineptitude, at worst of heartless corruption. And the buck doesn’t even stop there. The ordinary man in the street should be asking himself why he has for so long been prepared to put up with the shabby, careless way in which so much of his society is run. What is the point of laws, be they for murder or for fire precautions, if they are not adhered to?
The public wringing of hands after yet another fire or ferryboat catastrophe is not enough. People have the laws to protect them. They should demand those laws be applied. Owners who refuse to comply with safety regulations should not only be prosecuted but the public should boycott their businesses. Corruption among city officials is almost another issue. Regular independent monitoring of official decision-making is essential.
But most important is the need for pro-active vigilance by ordinary Filipinos. If new premises break safety codes, they should report this and both the owners and the city officials concerned should be investigated and punished if wrongdoing has taken place.
In the final analysis, ending this terrible litany of tragedies in the Philippines rests in the hands of the ordinary people, who have eyes to see and voices to complain.
