Two Quezon city Councilors, Banjo Pilar and Vic Bernardo, both from the city's 6th District, took the City Council's privilege hour to discuss the devastating fires that hit their jurisdictions recently.

In his privilege speech, Pilar brought up the lapses in the inspection of houses in subdivisions and villages, where some residents allegedly misdeclared their addresses as residential but were in fact used for commercial purposes.

"The house where 15 people perished in that bloody fire has been registered as an office only for RTW Retailer last August 14, 2023. But it was actually an MGC Warehouse whose initials are the name of the owner, Michael Cavilte," who died along with two other family members, said Pilar.

"Let this serve as a lesson to businessmen who try to hoodwink our local laws and ordinances. A lesson also for our people who should do their job properly," Pilar said, referring to the Business Permit and Licensing Department as well as the local Bureau of Fire Protection.

He added that while the city boasted of fast and speedy approval of business permits, inspection seemed to move at a  snail's pace, leading to this tragic incident.

"We should transform our tools, tap out barangay officials to check their turf to avoid similar incidents," Pilar urged his colleagues.

Bernardo, for his part, pointed to gated communities whose key custodians could not be located in case of emergency.

"This was what happen in Culiat where over 200 ISF (informal settler families) lost their houses," Bernardo said.

The lapses the two aldermen brought up were noted by Vice Mayor Gian Sotto, who presided the council session and instructed Majority Floor Leader Councilor Doray Delarmente to start a probe into the incidents.