A fire broke out on Friday destroying 200 shanties and leaving 1,000 people homeless in the capital town of Jolo, southern Sulu province, Gov. Abdusakur Tan said in a belated report. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Scores were hurt when they rushed out of their homes. They had to pass through small alleys and canals to escape the thick black smoke and fire that gutted in seconds the shanties that were illegally built near the central market and by the fire wall of the Sulu High School.

"The fire spread so quickly and was over in three hours," said Mayor Rasdi Abubakar. He added the fire was caused by a burning candle which fell to the floor in one of the houses. Dilapidated fire engines rushed to the scene, but they ran short of water and had to go back to the local water cooperative to fill their small tanks. Other people helped douse the fire with sea water. The homeless were temporarily housed in the town's gymnasium, where social workers distributed noodles and bottled water.

"This is very sad. Many of them have to start their lives all over again," Gov. Tan noted. "We are conducting an investigation to find the real cause of the fire," said Sulu Police Chief Candido Casimiro. He explained that dozens of policemen had been deployed in the area since Friday night to prevent looting.

Last year, two people were killed and scores injured when a fire broke out in Jolo town, leaving thousands of people homeless. The entire town was also torched, both by the warring military and the separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels in the 1970s.

Meanwhile, the government has offered tractors, seeds, and other agricultural equipment to the dreaded Abu Sayyaf extremist group, which is still holding in Jolo two hostages – American national Jeffrey Schilling, and Filipino dive-master Roland Ullah – said Jess Dureza, presidential adviser on the southern Philippines. On a recent visit to Mindanao, Dureza publicly announced the government's agricultural initiative, adding this could benefit Abu Sayyaf members.