Nat’l state of calamity eyed
PBBM mulls yearlong effect as ‘Paeng’ cuts deadly path nationwide Vol. 36 No. 256
October 30, 2022
2 SECTIONS 8 PAGES
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IN MET R MANILAO
n By JOEL ZURBANO, VITO BARCELO, RIO ARAJA AND NASH MAULANA
A ‘rumbling’ in the dark: Mom of three recounts escape from landslide
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HE National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Saturday urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to declare a yearlong national state of calamity following the onslaught of Severe Tropical Storm Paeng that left at least 45 people dead and displaced close to 300,000 others in 10 regions across the country. Sixteen out of the country’s 17 regions are classified as high risk as the storm cut a deadly path, causing flash floods and landslides from Luzon to Mindanao, NDRRMC executive director Raymundo Ferrer told the President in a virtual meeting. NDRRMC said damage to agriculture at the Soccsksargen region alone in Mindanao was placed at over P54 million. The Department of Agriculture said agriculture damage in Negros Occidental was so far pegged at P2.24 million. CONTINUED ON 3A
QUICK RESPONSE. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issues several directives to mobilize government assets and funds in response to the swathes of devastation brought about by several tropical storm ‘Paeng’ during a virtual meeting of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
AS MIDNIGHT approached and floodwaters rose around her, mother-of-three Chonalyn Sapi sought refuge at her local village chapel in the southern province of Maguindanao del Norte, only to find it was already filled with her neighbors. Desperate to find shelter before severe tropical storm ‘Paeng’ hits, she and others ran uphill in the dark, as boulders, mud and debris rumbled down the mountain in a massive landslide that would go on to bury the nearby hamlet of Kusiong, their home. “We didn’t sleep that night after the rain started,” Sapi, one of the few survivors of the deluge, told AFP. “At midnight it was already mud, not water. Some ran to the school, while the others chose the church. Some were already asleep.” Sapi said those who reached the local high school building survived, but those in the church -- including two elderly relatives of hers -- were buried beneath the mud. “We did not even have a flashlight. It was really dark. We heard the rumbling of boulders rolling down the mountain. You could not mistake it for anything else,” she said. Miraculously, she, her husband, and their two younger children were unscathed. Soaking wet and shivering in the cold, they waited out the deluge on the hillside for three hours. CONTINUED ON 3A
Middleman in Lapid slay died by ‘bag suffocation’ AN INDEPENDENT autopsy on the body of the alleged middleman in the killing of broadcaster Percival Mabasa showed the remains have a “history of asphyxia by plastic bag suffocation.” This as Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla revealed they are eyeing two possible masterminds in the murder case. “Based on available information regarding the circumstances surrounding death, the manner is homicide,” forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun said on Saturday after conducting an autopsy on the body of Jun Villamor, who was tagged by the self-confessed gunman, Escorial, as the middleman the murder cases.
Villamor died on October 18 inside the New Bilibid Prison, hours after Escorial surrendered to authorities. Remulla, for his part, said “the investigation is almost over” more than three weeks after Mabasa, also known as Percy Lapid, was shot dead in Las Piñas City on Oct. 3. “It’s a matter of filing cases and probably being able to identify masterminds in these cases,” he said. “We are saying masterminds, in the plural. We’re drawing out two persons of interest as masterminds, but we cannot say their names now because we have to determine everything, and we do not want to violate any rights of anybody. CONTINUED ON 3A
‘DEATH BY SUFFOCATION.’ Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin
Remulla and forensic expert Dr. Raquel Fortun present the results of the independent autopsy on the body of Jun Villamor, the alleged middleman in the killing of broadcaster Percival Mabasa. Fortun said Villamor’s remains showed a history of ‘plastic bag suffocation.’ Danny Pata
US veep to visit PH in Nov. to ‘reaffirm, strengthen’ ties US Vice President Kamala Harris
US Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the Philippines in November to “reaffirm and strengthen” bilateral ties between the two countries, the White House said on Saturday (Manila time). Harris will first go to Thailand for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting on November 18-19 in Bangkok before heading to Manila. She will travel with her husband, Doug Emhoff, who headed the US delegation at President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s nauguration on June 30. CONTINUED ON 3A
SCENES OF DEVASTATION. Severe tropical
storm ‘Paeng’ affected majority of the regions across the country. Rescuers dig among mud and stones near a river as they try to retrieve the bodies of victims of a landslide in Kusiong village in Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao province. In Marikina City, residents with their belongings arrive at a school that serves as an evacuation center after local authorities sounded the second alarm over the Marikina River. In Batangas province, patients had to be evacuated as parts of the San Juan District Hospital became flooded. In the country’s southern region, members of the Philippine Coast Guard evacuate a mother and her child inside a makeshift box in Zamboanga City. Philippine Coast Guard, San Juan Batangas LGU, AFP