Remulla Exposes BFP’s Fire Sale: Pay to Play Firefighter, Pay to Pass Inspection, Pay to Stay Alive

Unqualified Heroes, Uninspected Buildings, Unbelievable Gall: Meet the Real Fire Starters

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — February 27, 2026

MGA ka-kweba, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) is once again proving why “public service” in this country is less “serve the people” and more “serve yourself first, with a side of cash under the table.” Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla just dropped the hammer on 12 BFP officials across four regions for turning recruitment into a goddamn flea market and fire safety inspections into a protection racket. Forty complaints received. Twenty-one handed to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) for criminal buildup. And Remulla’s estimate? A cool ₱15 billion a year in systemic graft – recruitment bribes, bid-rigging since 2005, forced extinguisher refills, even fees before they’ll bother putting out your actual fire.

While real fires rage and buildings burn, these clowns were auctioning off their own jobs and safety certificates like it was Lazada on payday. Welcome to the Kweba, where we don’t do polite press releases. We eviscerate.

**“From Hero to Zero: How BFP Officials Turned Fire Trucks into Cash Registers”**

1. Slot-for-Sale All-Stars: Meet the Board That Turned Heroism Into a Paywall

Let’s start with the stars of this pay-to-play circus: Region VIII (Eastern Visayas). Four former senior officials – Chief Supt. Adel Bautista (the ex-regional director), Senior Superintendents Joselito Sabandal and Randy Mendaros, and Supt. Dorotheo Mocorro – all cozy members of the Human Resource Merit Promotion and Selection Board. Remulla’s words: “Lahat sila ay member ng board at ginawa nilang negosyo ang serbisyo publiko.” Translation for the slow: They turned the 2025 Fire Officer 1 recruitment into a straight-up bazaar.

P400,000 to P800,000 per slot. Is that an all-inclusive resort package with complimentary helmet and bunker gear, or just the price of admission to “serve the public”? One wonders what the brochure said: “Premium Slot – Guaranteed ranking, no pesky exams or fitness tests required. Cash only, no refunds except in Region I.” All four slapped with 90-day preventive suspension. How audacious do you have to be to price public heroism like concert tickets?

Region X (Northern Mindanao) gives us six more: Senior Superintendents Franklin Ratunil, Richie Fabre, Alan Cabot, Reynante Lorono, Rafonzel Anito, and Senior Fire Officer 4 Greg Sacote. Their sin? Approving applicants who couldn’t pass a basic medical, physical, or dental clearance, plus bungling the release of exam results. Medical fitness? Apparently optional DLC in this pay-to-win game. Imagine the scene: Some applicant wheezes into the station, EKG flatlining, but hey, the envelope was thick enough. Competence? Ethics? These folks treated qualifications like speed bumps on the highway to graft.

Region IV-A (Calabarzon) – specifically in Silang, Cavite – brings us Senior Inspector Jonathan Hungriano Jr. and Fire Officer 1 Marvhin Bardoquillo. The dynamic duo running a classic protection racket: failing to conduct required fire safety inspections even after fees were paid, imposing “ungrounded requirements” to refill fire extinguishers, and steering clients to specific suppliers. Pay our boys or your permit “spontaneously combusts.” It’s not fire safety; it’s fire insurance – mafia edition. Republic Act No. 9514 (the Revised Fire Code of the Philippines) demands objective, transparent inspections. These two apparently read it as “objective as long as the objective is your wallet.”

And the cherry on this shit sundae: Region I (Ilocos), a lone Fire Officer III in San Carlos, Pangasinan, who demanded P90,000 to “facilitate” a recruitment slot, then graciously refunded P30,000 when the deal went south. Partial money-back guarantee! How customer-friendly. “Sorry po, slot not available, but here’s 33% back for your trouble. Next applicant?”

Motivations? For the BFP boys: Pure, unadulterated personal enrichment. On a government salary (Remulla himself noted some live like kings on P120k/month), they built mansions and lifestyles that scream “supplemental income from heroism.” Is it just greed, or has it become an institutionalized “service fee” – a cultural tax on every aspiring firefighter and terrified business owner? For Remulla: Genuine reform under the Marcos anti-corruption banner, or political grandstanding to look tough ahead of whatever comes next? The whistleblowers? Victims finally fed up, or opportunists who didn’t get their cut? Either way, the pattern screams “orchestrated enterprise,” not rogue actors.

2. Crusader Remulla vs. The BFP’s Classic “Presumption of Innocence” Poker Face

For Remulla/DILG: Conclusive proof – affidavits, message exchanges, complainant testimony. Forty complaints don’t lie. Public interest is sky-high: Unqualified firefighters and uninspected buildings kill people. Preventive suspensions protect the probe and the public. This isn’t isolated; it’s decades-deep, with BFP Chief Jesus Fernandez (and 39 others) facing impending graft charges for bid-rigging on equipment from 2014-2025. Remulla’s already moving to axe Fernandez – order coming “this week or next.” Respect for swinging the axe.

But sharpen the knife: Is this rushed “trial by media”? Full evidence not public yet. Selective enforcement? Why only these 12 now when the P15B rot has been cooking since Arroyo days? Optics of Cavite ties and high-profile pressers – genuine crusade or convenient headlines? Morale in BFP tanks; recruitment stalls. And if it fizzles, cynicism skyrockets.

For the officials (their likely defense): Presumption of innocence. “No direct evidence I pocketed cash – just board membership.” “Systemic pressures – low pay, high cost of living, ‘everybody does it.’” “Procedural lapses in the charges.” Region I’s partial refund? “Good faith!” Unqualified approvals? “Pending clearances, honest mistake.”

Dismantled, surgically: Pattern across regions kills the “isolated error” fairy tale. “Conclusive proof” Remulla cited (videos/messages per reports) plus lavish lifestyles = preponderance screaming guilt under administrative rules. “Systemic pressures”? Bullshit – that’s not defense, that’s confession that the institution is rotten because you made it so. Procedural lapses? Civil Service Commission (CSC) rules and due process (Ang Tibay standards) still apply, but preventive suspension is explicitly allowed precisely for grave misconduct like this (Gloria v. CSC, though related precedents affirm it’s precautionary, not punitive). No back pay even if later exonerated if valid. Your “defense” evaporates faster than water on a grease fire.

3. The Anatomy of Systemic Rot: Not Bad Apples – A Rotten Orchard on Fire

This isn’t twelve bad apples. This is an entire orchard doused in kerosene. Recruitment slots for sale. Inspections turned into shakedowns: “Refill here or no permit.” Suppliers on speed-dial for kickbacks. Bid-rigging on hoses, trucks, gear. Remulla’s P15B annual figure isn’t hyperbole – it’s the ecosystem: illegal recruitment + compromised Fire Code enforcement + extortion on SMEs and homeowners.

Republic Act No. 9514 mandates proper, objective safety protocols (Secs. 7-9, 51). Republic Act No. 11032 (the Ease of Doing Business Act) bans extra payments and red tape. They twisted both into a cash machine. A mandate for public safety became “pay to not burn.” Connect the dots: Region VIII sells the jobs; Region X fast-tracks the unfit; Region IV-A extorts the businesses those unfit “inspect”; Fernandez allegedly rigs the big-ticket procurement upstream. Decades-old. Institutionalized. “Widespread, systemic and institutionalized corruption,” Remulla said. Damn right – the roots go to Malacañang-adjacent fiefdoms.

4. Legal Frameworks, Options, and Scenarios: The Law vs. The Gall

Framework: Republic Act No. 3019 (the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) Sec. 3(b) – direct hit on soliciting benefits for any government transaction (slots, approvals). Sec. 3(e) – undue injury or unwarranted benefit. Republic Act No. 6713 (the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) Sec. 4 – integrity, professionalism; no turning service into business. Republic Act No. 9514 and CSC merit rules for the rest. Administrative: grave misconduct = dismissal. Criminal: 6-15 years + perpetual disqualification. Preventive suspension? Valid precaution, not penalty (Gloria v. CSC precedents; Ombudsman orders executory).

Options: Remulla – escalate to Ombudsman/Sandiganbayan, push Fernandez ouster, digitize everything. Officials – fight (appeal CSC), fold (resign with pension), or flip (testify for leniency against higher-ups).

Scenarios:

Best: Full convictions, Fernandez gone yesterday, real reforms (see below). Public trust restored; fire safety actually means something.
Mid: Scapegoat the 12, Fernandez “retires honorably,” half-measures. Rot mutates underground.
Worst: Politicization (“Remulla witch hunt!”), lawsuits drag, evidence “disappears,” public cynicism hits new lows, and unqualified “firefighters” respond to the next mall blaze.

Impacts? Institutional integrity shredded. Public safety gambled. Trust? “Public office is a public trust” – or public auction, apparently.

5. The Call to Action: Burn the Rot, Not the People

CIDG and Ombudsman – move with urgency, not the usual glacial pace. Full transparency on evidence. No sacred cows, including national HQ.

Reforms, specific and non-negotiable:

Digitize recruitment: Online portal, blockchain rankings, zero human “board” discretion.
Standardize inspections: App with geo-tagged photos, fixed fees only, third-party random audits.
Overhaul leadership: Fernandez out now. Independent anti-graft task force inside BFP.
Whistleblower protection and hotlines that actually work.

Contrast the ideal – public servants in bunker gear saving lives – with this sordid reality of price tags on heroism. Enough. Genuine public service isn’t a business model. It’s a damn trust.

If Remulla follows through, he might actually extinguish this blaze. If not, the Kweba will be here to fan the flames.

Share this. Argue it. Make the powerful squirm.

Barok out. Fire away in the comments – but pay no “facilitation fee” first.

Kweba ni Barok – because some bullshit needs a flamethrower.