News
A3
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
INTERNET GROUP WANTS TELCO DEAL REVIEWED
MEMENTO MORI. Damaged infrastructures in Cagayan’s capital city of Tuguegarao are a pathetic sight, two days after powerful Typhoon ‘Lawin’ left northern Philippines with a trail of death and destruction. The Catholic Church, through its social action arm National Secretariat for Social Action/Caritas Philippines, has started using its emergency funds to support relief operations for affected families. Caritas Philippines
15 KILLED BY TYPHOON ‘LAWIN’–NDRRMC A
s the sun started to filter through the weekend clouds in northern Philippines, officials reported a trail of 15 deaths and millions of damage to agriculture and infrastructure in Cagayan when Super Typhoon “Lawin” slammed into Cagayan Valley and the Cordillera Administrative Region. National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Executive Director Ricardo Jalad told radio dzBB in an interview that many of the fatalities were killed in separate landslides in CAR, sandwiched by the Caraballo and the Ilocos mountain ranges. The NDRRMC has placed the initial cost of damage to agriculture and infrastructure at P657.8 million.
AGRI, INFRA DAMAGE HITS P650M THREE days after Typhoon “Lawin” struck the country, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council announced that agriculture and infrastructure losses for the Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and the Cordillera regions have hit the P657,800,695.49 mark. Agricultural damage was placed at P75,855,695.49 and infrastructure losses at P581,945,000. As of Saturday, relief assistance provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to the four regions amounted to P6,130,750. The NDRRMC, meanwhile, announced that 22,814 families, or 92,002 persons, are still being sheltered in 643 evacuation centers in the four regions, along with Calabarzon and the Bicol region. Meanwhile, another 12,672 families, or 57,657 persons, are getting service outside government-operated evacuation centers. The NDRRMC added those preemptively evacuated in these regions totalled 28,710 families, or 143,531 persons. Confirmed deaths from “Lawin” are still at seven, all from the Cordillera region, and all attributable to landslides spawned by the typhoon. Unofficial figures have placed the death toll at 12. Reports of additional deaths are still being verified and validated by the NDRRMC. A total 1,327 houses were damaged—235 wrecked and 1,092 partially destroyed—in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and the Cordilleras, officials said. PNA
Two more, an old man and a member of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit, were also killed in Isabela, a catch basin province which sits on the banks of the mighty Cagayan River. Jalad said only nine of the fatalities have been validated by the NDRRMC. Meanwhile, Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba, who has placed his
province under a state of calamity, pleaded for help from the national government and the private sector to help his province recover from the unprecedented devastation. Mamba said it would take several months for the province, which came under typhoon signal number 5 like adjoining Isabela, to recover from the weather pillage without the help of the national government. He said that almost all of the houses in the province, particularly in Tuguegarao City and Gonzaga town farther north, were destroyed by the super typhoon. “Lawin,” which left four people killed in the towns of Igig, Solana and Baggao, slammed into Cagayan late Wednesday with more than 200 kms per hour winds, crossing
parts of Luzon north of Manila before exiting the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Thursday. In its bulletin issued 8 a.m. Saturday, the NDRRMC said the super typhoon displaced 143,531 people or 28,710 families in Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Bicol and CAR. It said 92,002 people remained in evacuation centers and the rest are staying outside evacuation shelters. Cagayan province bore the brunt of the super typhoon, where hundreds of houses, business establishments and government offices were damaged. The NDRRMC said 1,327 houses were damaged by the super typhoon in Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and CAR.
RED CROSS CARAVAN DEPLOYED A HUMANITARIAN caravan loaded with assets, equipment and emergency relief items was sent by the Philippine Red Cross to Isabela and Cagayan to bring emergency aid to communities affected by Super Typhoon “Lawin.” The caravan was composed of a rescue van, Doosan wheel loader, dump truck, 6x6 multi-role truck, a 4,000-liter fuel tanker and a 10,000-liter water tanker, Hot Meals on wheels van, rescue van, 2 Humvees, two ambulance units and two 10-wheeler trucks loaded with emergency relief items like sleeping mats, blankets, mosquito nets, tarpaulins, jerry cans and hygiene kits good for 1,500 families, as well as clothing, shoes and ready-to-eat meals.. A total 1,141 Corrugated Galvanized Iron sheets and other shelter repair materials were also loaded in the caravan for distribution to families whose roofs were blown off by “Lawin.“ Initial assessments by PRC teams estimated that in affected areas, particularly in Cagayan and Isabela, 80 percent of houses and community infrastructures had roofs blown off. “There have been three devastating typhoons [Meranti, Sarika and Haima] that have struck Northern Luzon one after the other,” said PRC chairman Richard Gordon. He added: “Mercifully, the effects of the typhoons were not as severe as [those of ] Haiyan [Yolanda in 2013]. We have averted a humanitarian crisis, but it is still a humanitarian challenge nonetheless. We need to give priority to those who have lost their homes, livelihoods, and stocks.” PRC staff and volunteers, with personnel from the county delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), have been deployed in some of the affected areas like Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Eci-
ja, Abra and Isabela. Gordon said: “Our volunteers and staff in the affected areas have been activated for monitoring and assessment of the situation and the needs of the affected population. “We are constantly communicating with our teams on the ground in order for us to assess which areas need aid the most and for us to provide the assistance that the affected population needs.”
tablished welfare desks in Cagayan and Nueva Ecija and have provided hot meals to families in evacuation centers in Cagayan and Mt. Province. PRC’s Operation Center reported almost 3,000 people have been provided assistance by the PRC through search and rescue, distribution of hot meals and biscuits, blankets, welfare services like psychosocial report and referral, and hygiene promotion activities.
INCREASING ANXIETY. Isolated village residents in Peñablanca, Cagayan, whose houses were ripped apart by the ruthless Super Typhoon ‘Lawin,’ sit on a destroyed bridge while waiting for transport to the town on Friday as strong winds and landslides destroyed tens of thousands of houses and hectares of rice lands weeks into harvest time. AFP Aside from monitoring and assessment, PRC rescuers and emergency responders have conducted rescue operations amid Lawin’s wrath. Based from initial ground reports from PRC teams, Red Cross staff and volunteers have rescued 82 individuals (28 in Isabela, 3 in Ilocos Sur and 51 in Mt. Province) from flooded homes and areas. PRC’s welfare teams have also es-
Gordon said: “Although the general damage caused by Lawin is yet to be assessed and reported, we are already anticipating massive damage in the affected areas. “Humanitarian aid is needed now more than ever and it needs to be delivered in the fastest possible time to alleviate the suffering of the vulnerable and affected population. We at the Red Cross cannot do it alone.”
AN INTERNET rights advocacy group is asking the government to urge the Philippine Competition Commission to review the telecommunication deal of PLDT, Globe Telecom and San Miguel Corp. and provide guidelines that will reallocate radio frequencies to allow the entry of new competitors in the industry. Democracy.Net.PH explained an open competition in the telecoms industry will provide consumers more options for faster and affordable Internet access. Engineer Pierre Tito Galla, cofounder and co-convenor of Democracy.Net.PH, said the present telecoms industry is dominated by PLDT/ Smart and Globe Telecom which together control radio frequency waves or spectrums crucial in operating mobile Internet services in the country. The group said that with the acquisition deal of Globe and Smart of the 700MHZ frequency band of SMC, they already own nearly 80 percent of the total available spectrum, according to the National Radio Frequency Allocation Table (RFAT). The remaining 20 percent of spectrum cannot be allocated as some of them are considered as guard bands to prevent interference of radio signals. “With the existing spectrum available for allocation, there is not enough spectrum to be attractive for the entry of just one potential new player,” according to Galla. Thus, the PCC is reviewing the PLDT/Smart-Globe-SMC deal and the PLDT/Smart-Globe spectrum co-use agreement as there is not enough spectrum that would allow the entry of a new competitor. However, this was delayed by a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals 12th Division even as another CA division already ruled that the PCC is mandated to conduct a review. PNA
PARKED VEHICLES TOWED FROM MABUHAY LANES SOME 5,454 illegally parked vehicles were seized and towed in less than four months of sidewalk clearing operation on the 17 Mabuhay Lanes, pushed by the government as alternative routes for private vehicles affected by the revised number coding scheme. Some of the towed vehicles were impounded at the site managed by the Metro Manila Development Authority at the University of Life (Ultra) Pasig City while the others were brought to the impounding area of Land Transportation Office in Tarlac City. Aside from illegally parked cars, members of the Inter-agency Council on Traffic (I-ACT) were also able to take into custody more than 200 unregistered public utility vehicles in various parts of the metropolis as part of the government’s intensified measure to ease traffic in the National Capital Region. “A total of 23 vehicles were towed while 28 tickets were issued for various traffic violations,” the MMDA said in its report on the latest anti-colorum and sidewalk clearing operation at the corner of Gil Puyat Street and Taft Avenue in Pasay City. The I-ACT team, composed of personnel from the MMDA, Land Transportation Office and Police - Highway Patrol Group (HPG), also enforced the suspension of the no window hours in the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program or the Number Coding Scheme, and the No Helmet, No Travel Policy. Covered by the number coding scheme are Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Circumferential Road-5 (C-5 Road), Alabang-Zapote Road, Roxas Boulevard, and in the cities of Mandaluyong, Makati, and Las Piñas. The government also agreed to add 15 more roads to be covered by the scheme—Rizal Avenue, Claro M. Recto Avenue, Taft Avenue, Del Pan Street, President Quirino Avenue, Araneta Avenue, Marcos Highway, MacArthur Highway, Shaw Boulevard, Ortigas Avenue, Quezon Avenue, Commonwealth Avenue, Magsaysay Boulevard, Aurora Boulevard, A. Bonifacio Avenue and South Luzon Expressway. Joel Zurbano