VOL. XXXIV • NO. 254 • 2 SECTIONS 8 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Cagayan floods ‘like Pacific Ocean’ • Isabela, Pampanga still inundated • Ulysses death toll climbs to 37 Cagayan province looks like a proverbial waterworld from the catastrophic rains caused by Typhoon Ulysses. Rescuers scramble to evacuate residents, many of whom were stranded on their rooftops for more than 24 hours as the waters released from Magat Dam caused the already swollen Cagayan River to overflow. PCG, DOTr
By Joyce Pangco Pañares
A
T LEAST 156 barangays in 24 towns in Cagayan province were inundated with floodwaters—looking like a murky Pacific Ocean, according to a disaster management official—due to torrential rains brought by Typhoon Ulysses and monsoon rains as well as the release of water from Magat Dam.
“Cagayan now looks like the Pacific Ocean. All municipalities along Cagayan River are flooded,” said Col. Ascio Macalan of the Provincial Risk Reduction and Management Office in an interview with ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo. The Tuguegarao City Command Center said almost the entire province was under water, and residents stayed on their rooftops for more than 24 hours since Friday while waiting to be rescued. Macalan said more than 13,000 families or 47,000 residents in Cagayan were severely affected by the floods.
The entire province was placed under a state of calamity on Saturday as Ulysses left at least nine people dead, Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba told dzBB. Mamba said four died from a landslide, two from drowning, and three from electrocution. Large swathes of neighboring province Isabela and Pampanga in Central Luzon likewise remained submerged in floodwaters Saturday. Data released by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council
yesterday night put the typhoon death toll at 37—20 in Cagayan Valley region, six in Calabarzon, five in Bicol, and six in the Cordillera Administrative Region. The NDRRMC deployed some 3,700 personnel to Cagayan and Isabela, but search and rescue operations were hampered by thoroughfares that remained impassable. From Cordillera to Sierra Madre “We could not move around. All the roads are closed. The high is under water. The entire valley from Cordillera to Sierra Madre was filled with water. You
cannot even discern where is Cagayan, where is the highway,” Mamba said. President Rodrigo Duterte will visit the severely flooded province today (Sunday) as Malacañang belied accusations that the national government was caught unprepared by the massive flooding in Cagayan and Isabela. “We were not caught unprepared because we were able to preposition,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a press briefing. “The rescue operations in Cagayan continue. Indeed, this is a challenging time for every Filipino. Together, we ask everyone to unite, help one another, and show kindness to our fellowmen,” Roque added. The hashtag #CagayanNeedsHelp trended late Friday evening with posting photos and audio clips of residents trapped on their rooftops crying out for help
Aside from the floodwaters, the province’s health protocols against the novel coronavirus disease has limited the movement of search and rescue teams and even media outlets. This prompted Interior Secretary Eduardo Año to order the Cagayan provincial government to ease its strict restrictions, including a 14-day quarantine for non-residents. “The situation in Cagayan requires unhampered disaster response and recovery operations by rescue and relief organizations. Therefore, all LGUs in Cagayan and Isabela should ease up access in their areas to facilitate disaster operations,” Año said. The management of the COVID-19 pandemic, Año added, should not hamper nor delay the entry, passage, or operations of all government and private sector humanitarian assistance and response personnel.
Duterte creates quick-response task force for typhoon-battered areas By Vito Barcelo, Joel Zurbano and Jess Malabanan PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the creation of a task force for the government’s response on the devastation of Typhoon Ulysses and Super Typhoon Rolly, with both leaving at least 59 people dead and a swathe of destruction in much of Luzon. “Our government is making guidelines to help our people affected by the typhoon. Thus, I created a trask force,” Duterte said in a televised address heard nationwide. “I directed them to streamline, to hasten the rehabilitation efforts [for those] affected by the typhoon. Second, the task force is made up of different agencies and all are involved in this,” he said. Meanwhile, in a series of Viber messages to reporters, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesperson Mark Cashean Timbal said 16 deaths
COVID-19 PH
were recorded in the Cagayan Valley region, six in Calabarzon, five in Bicol, and six in the Cordillera region. The number of injured was placed at 22 – three in Cagayan Valley, nine in Calabarzon, eight in Bicol, and two in the Cordillera region. Those reported missing are now at 20 with five in Cagayan Valley, two in Calabarzon, eight in Bicol, and five in the Cordillera region. Timbal said damage to agriculture had been estimated at P968 million in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Bicol, and Cordillera, while damage to infrastructure was placed at P253 million in Ilocos and Mimaropa. Some 3,013 houses were also damaged in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions. In Central Luzon, disaster-control officials recorded P52 million in damage to agricultural lands, planted to high value crops including palay, in at least 101 villages in
Pampanga. Pampanga Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office Officer Angelina Blanco said over 2,200 hectares of agricultural lands have been inundated by widespread flooding. “Ulysses has left wide damage to agriculture, residential houses and government infrastructure in Pampanga,” said Blanco, citing reports from line government agencies including the Provincial Agriculture Office. Blanco said P617,500 worth of livestock including poultry buildings had been damaged in Magalang and San Simon towns. Strong winds flattened 182 houses while 1,666 more others have been partially damaged in almost all towns in the province. Meanwhile, state pension fund Government Service Insurance System said it was offering emergency loan to its members and pensioners affected by Ulysses, Rolly and other typhoons that hit the country since October this year.
GSIS President and General Manager Rolando Ledesma Macasaet said “Members and pensioners may borrow P20,000 under the GSIS Emergency Loan Program. The loan is payable in 36 equal monthly instalments at only 6 percent interest rate,” Macasaet said in a statement. Qualified to apply are members who are in active service and not on leave of absence without pay; have no pending administrative or criminal case; and have a net take-home pay of not lower than P5,000 after all required monthly obligations have been deducted. Those that have due and demandable loan accounts (have arrears of over six months) are now allowed to renew their previous emergency loan from a different calamity (excluded under the COVID-19 Emergency Loan Program). It was on November 1 when the country faced the wrath of Super Typhoon Rolly, killing at least 22 people and damaging properties while Typhoon Ulysses ravaged
AL-QAEDA’S NO. 2 PRINCESS DIANA’S BE PART OF ALDEN’S KILLED IN IRAN DRAMATIC DEBUT VIRTUAL CONCERT
AT A GLANCE
(AS OF 4 PM NOV. 14)
406,337 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
1,650 35,478 NEW
ACTIVE
7,791
39
363,068
194
DEATHS
RECOVERIES
NEW
WORLD / A3
NEW
twitter.com/ MlaStandard
facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH
FEATURE / B4
S
manilastandard.net
ENTERTAINMENT / B3
the country last Wednesday, November 12, submerging much of Luzon, particularly Central Luzon north of the capital and the Cagayan Valley hemmed in by the Sierra Madre and the Caraballo Mountains. The President said the task force would be given a time line to lay out plans ensuring that response and relief operations would not be delayed “and cut the red tape to facilitate delivery of aid for the affected residents.” “All of the agencies are in the task force. I gave them a time line for them to make steps ensuring there will not be any delay in the distribution of aid,” he said. The President said these agencies were working round the clock, adding “all those who could give help are there. The Coast Guard has helicopters in the area. The search and rescue has support forces. The Coast Guard has already been deployed in Region 2.” The chief executive said the Philippine Coast Guard, Army, and Navy were being deployed for search and rescue in submerged areas. In Malacañang, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government vowed not to leave anyone behind in the on-going relief and other response efforts undertaken by various government agencies in all areas affected by the two typhoons that wrough massive damage to the Bicol region and Central Luzon, including Metro Manila. “No one will be left behind. We will get through this crisis,” Roque said. In a statement, Roque cited data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council which said Ulysses had less reported casualties and injuries compared to 2009’s typhoon Ondoy that recorded a death toll of 464 with 529 injured. “We can see how prepared is the administration under Presidente Duterte,” said Roque, adding “the President was always there monitoring and advising the people to keep safe.”
Missed your copy of Manila Standard? Call or text our Circulation Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circulation@manilastandard.net