Bleak Christmas for workers displaced by fire in Robinsons Place Tacloban

Jazmin Bonifacio

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Bleak Christmas for workers displaced by fire in Robinsons Place Tacloban
Almost half of the stalls inside the mall were gutted by the 15-hour blaze

 

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte – More than one thousand displaced workers of Robinsons Place here felt emotional as they faced a lonely Christmas season after a fire razed almost half of the stores of the mall Wednesday evening, October 23.

The blaze broke out around 6 pm, Wednesday, and was declared fire out 9 am Thursday, October 24. The fire displaced over a thousand of workers and disrupted business activities inside the mall.

Ronaldo Calasan, 29, a sales clerk of Robinsons Department store, said he and his co-workers felt sad losing their job, as well as, because of the uncertainty of whether they would be able work again.

Diri magigin merry amon pasko yana. Nag huhulat pa kami yana kun matatagan pa kami trabaho o diri ngani ig balhin kami ha Robinsons North,” Calasan told Rappler in an interview.

(This may not be a merry Christmas for us. We are waiting whether or not we will be given work again.)

Tacloban City Vice Mayor Jerry ‘Sambo’ Yaokasin, said that DOLE is now taking the lead in giving emergency assistance to the after workers.

“So sad that said mall has gone through a lot, gin bagyo Yolanda, gin linog, ngan yana nasunog,” Yaokasin said. ( That mall has gone through a lot, it was hit by typhoon Yolanda, earthquake, and now fire)

“We hope that the same spirit of resiliency be displayed again, like after typhoon Yolanda,” Yaokasin added.

Yaokasin thanked organizations, establishments, tenants of the mall, and those people from nearby towns who helped by sending food and water to the firefighters and victims.

“Thank you for all the efforts and the love. We never felt abandoned and hopeless,” he said. – Rappler.com

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