News Roundup 30 October 2022
Oct 30, 2022 • 5 min Read
NDRRMC seeks Marcos declaration of state of national calamity due to ‘Paeng’ | PHILSTAR.COM – The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has drafted a resolution recommending the declaration of a national state of calamity due to the impact of Tropical Storm Paeng (international name: Nalgae). The declaration will allow access to calamity response funds and will implement a price freeze on basic goods. “Ito po ay amin nang ginawa at papunta na po ang aming communication recommending a declaration of [a] national state of calamity,” Defense Senior Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr., officer-in-charge of the department and also chair of the NDRRMC, said in a briefing on Sunday. (We have prepared the document and our communication recommending a declaration of a national state of calamity is on its way.) It is yet unclear where President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who attended an NDRRMC briefing via teleconference on Saturday, is although Office of the Press Secretary officer-in-charge Cheloy Garafil assured the public Sunday that the chief executive is not in Japan despite speculations on social media. National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates-Youth and peasant women group Amihan said in separate statements that the president should be visible during crises. “The Filipino people deserve to know where the president is, and we have the right to hold him accountable,” NNARA-Youth National Chairperson Zoe Caballero said. Marcos has preferred to let officials handle disaster response, saying on-site visits to calamity areas would disrupt relief work. Meanwhile, government agencies are now distributing aid such as family food packs and water to communities affected by tropical storm Paeng. As of Sunday morning, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said it already distributed more than P22.3 million worth of family food packs and other non-food assistance to people affected by the storm. Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo said the department is prepared to extend more aid. Officials during the briefing on Sunday said they conducted an assessment of the typhoon’s impact in the Calabarzon region, where areas in Cavite were left flooded by continuous rain. They will also head to the Bangsamoro region to deliver equipment, such as water purifiers, among others. “Medyo malaki ang problema sa [Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao]. Maraming natamaan sa landslide, ‘yung baha nag-iimprove na pero may mga problema pa rin,” Anton Lagdameo, Marcos’ special assistant, said. (The situation in BARMM is quite serious. Many people were affected by landslides. Flooding has receded but there are still problems.) The NDRRMC’s Sunday report showed severe tropical storm Paeng left 48 individuals dead, with 33 of the confirmed casualties logged from the Bangsamoro region.
Tragic Paeng combination: Nonstop rains, deforestation | INQUIRER.NET – Disaster officials blamed a tragic combination of continuous rains from the approaching Severe Tropical Storm Paeng (international name: Nalgae), deforestation, and silted rivers for the floods and landslides that swamped many parts of the country this week. Rains during this year’s rainy season were expected but the storm’s severe winds along with the heavy downpours put many provinces at high risk as they became susceptible to landslides and floods, said Assistant Secretary Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, spokesperson for the national disaster management council. “What is unprecedented is because of the prolonged rains, even without the winds, it was still dangerous because they trigger flash floods and landslides when the soil becomes saturated [with rainwater],” he told the Inquirer on Saturday. The hardest-hit region, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), had been inundated since Monday, according to Undersecretary Raymundo Ferrer, administrator of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD). “What happened was that the hazards from the highlands combined with the large volume of water from the rains since Monday caused landslides in the coastal areas, which were areas that were not previously experiencing floods,” said Senior Defense Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr., the officer in charge of the Department of National Defense.
Susceptible to slides
Mayor Lester Sinsuat of Datu Odin Sinsuat town, where the devastated village of Kusiong is located, said efforts to rebuild the barangay must include a massive tree planting program on Mt. Minandar that towers above it. Citing data from the Mines and Geoscience Bureau, Ferrer said a total of 21,148 barangays from 15 out of the 17 regions of the country were susceptible to floods and landslides. A total of 64 provinces were within the 850-kilometer diameter of Paeng’s rain clouds. Of these, 25 were classified as high risk, or those within the 200-km diameter near the center of the storm. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on Saturday that 43 people died due to the storm in Mindanao, two in Western Visayas and one in Eastern Visayas. It said that 48,802 people from 12,304 families were sheltering in 506 evacuation centers. Another 12,214 displaced persons, or 2,589 families, are outside evacuation centers.
Man swept by floodwaters found dead in Masbate town | INQUIRER.NET – A 60-year-old man died after he was swept away by floodwaters triggered by Severe Tropical Storm “Paeng” (international name: Nalgae) in Mandaon, Masbate early Saturday. The Masbate police on Sunday identified the fatality as as Ronito Arguilles, a resident of Barangay Tumalaytay. Quoting the victim’s wife, Nanita, police said that the Arguilles family tried to evacuate after floodwaters inundated their residence. Ronito, however, was swept away by by the strong current at around 3:00 a.m. His body was later discovered beside the river, a few meters away from his house, police said.
