Home 
It would be so easy for him to leave but Felipe Moncada, 61, is staying put in the site where the charred remains of what used to be his house in sitio San Jose, barangay Lahug, Cebu City.
It holds memories of his family and his wife, who died of complications from diabetes last February.
?Akong mga anak nag sige ug agda nga paadtoon ko sa ila. Dinhi ra jud ko. Himoan lang ko nila higdaanan ug atop-atop okay nako (My children always invited me to live with them. I am staying put. Just make me a bed and roof, I am okay),? he said.
And make a bed his children did for Moncada, who could barely walk due to the swelling in his legs caused by his diabetes.
He was one of the victims of last Tuesday's fire that struck their area and left 52 families without homes.
While some of the victims occupied the Lahug barangay gym, the others stayed put and began to rebuild their homes while watching out for blue guards designated by the University of the Philippines-Visayas (UP-Visayas) Cebu College to drive them out of the lot.
The school is claiming ownership of the lot which is being opposed by the Lahug barangay and by the Cebu City government and attempted to fence the area, only to be stopped by the affected families.
The ailing Moncada used to occupy a one-story house made of concrete and light materials that stood beside a two-story house owned by one Simplico Magno where a lighted candle caused the fire.
Firefighters estimated the damages at P6.7 million. Moncada lived alone in his home which he divided into three partitions and allocated the top and bottom portions to boarders whom he charged anywhere from P2,300 to P2,700.
Had it not been for the boarders, Moncada said he would have perished in the fire.
He slept early and was awakened by the banging on his door.
He said he felt that the room was too warm and was shocked to see his neighbor's house on fire.
One of the boarders dragged him out of the house and left him in the middle of the road where others have also started to deposit things they saved from their respective houses.
A limping Moncada made his way to the other side of the road.
He said a man approached him, offered him a seat and handed him a P100 bill.
After the smoke cleared, Moncada's daughter Teresita Cuno visited him and offered food.
Cuno said she asked her father to stay with her family but Moncada declined.
He also said he fears leaving the site because thieves would run away with galvanized iron and other scrap materials which may still be useful.
He said that some neighbors sold scrap metal which they collected from their charred houses for P30 per kilo of metal.
Moncada he also started selling galvanized iron from his burnt house and raised P900.
In respect to their father's decision to stay in sitio San Jose, Felipe Jr. made an improvised bed where Moncada could sleep while they discuss how to rebuild their burnt ancestral house.
