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

Pilar, in his privileged speech, brought up the lapses in inspecting houses in subdivision and villages where some residents misdeclared their address as residential but turned it into commercial use.

"The house where 15 people perished in that bloody fire has been registered as an office only for RTW Retailer. Last 14 August 2023. But it was actually an MGC Warehouse whose initials are the name of the owner Michael Cavilte who died along with his wife and 3-year-old daughter Scarlette," Pilar stressed.

"Let this serve as a lesson to businessmen, who tried 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 like moving in snail phase, letting this tragic incident."

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

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

"This was what happen in Culiat where over 200 ISF families loose their houses," Bernardo said.