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STRONGEST QUAKE TO HIT CEBU. A magnitude
6.9 tremor damages the Sta. Rita Church (left) in Daanbantayan, Cebu Tuesday evening. The devastating tremor left over 60 people dead, with fatalities put in body bags (right) outside the Cebu provincial hospital in Bogo City, the quake’s epicenter. CPAC Facebook page / Alan Tangcawan
VOL. XXXIX • NO. 226 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P20 • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2025 •
SC DEFERS BARMM POLLS TO 2026 NEWS/ A7
US GOVT SHUTS DOWN AMID BUDGET IMPASSE WORLD / A6
Huge quake rocks Cebu:
69 dead and counting
PBBM tells all gov't agencies to assist Cebu quake victims By Vince Lopez, Ram Superable, Rex, Espiritu, Darwin Amojelar, Othel V. Campos, Alena Mae S. Flores, and Maricel V. Cruz
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday mobilized all concerned government agencies to provide immediate assistance to communities affected by the earthquake that shook Cebu province late Tuesday evening. In a statement released on his social media account, the chief executive Next page
• Magnitude 6.9 • Epicenter: Bogo
By Minerva Newman, Vince Lopez, Alena Flores, Joel Zurbano, Rex Espiritu
• Over 600 aftershocks
B
PH alerts Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia for rescue assistance By Katrina Manubay THE Office of Civil Defense (OCD) on Wednesday said neighboring countries Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia have been placed on alert in case the Philippines requires their assistance in rescue operations following the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck Cebu. OCD officer-in-charge Assistant Secretary Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said the alerts were made so international rescue teams can immediately respond if needed. “We have asked our neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia that in the event we need an international rescue team, they have already been alerted. So once the assessment is done and we
SEARCHING FOR SURVIVORS. (Top)
Rescuers search for three people who were reported missing under the rubble of a collapsed building in Bogo City on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, after a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake jolted central Philippines, killing dozens on the island of Cebu with fears the toll could rise. (Right) Motorists pass a crack in the road along a major highway in Tabogon town also in Cebu. AFP
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TD ‘Paolo’ gains strength; Signal 1 raised in Catanduanes By Rio N. Araja and Vince Lopez TROPICAL depression “Paolo” slightly intensified while moving west-northwest over the Philippine Sea on Wednesday afternoon. State weather bureau Pagasa said Paolo’s center was estimated at 665 kilometers east of Virac, Catanduanes. It was moving at 25 km/h
with maximum sustained winds of 55 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 70 km/h. Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 1 was raised over the municipalities of Pandan, Bagamanoc, Panganiban, and Viga in Catanduanes. “Paolo” may make landfall over Isabela or northern Aurora by Friday morning or afternoon and is Next page
• PBBM to visit ‘ground zero’ • Cebu under calamity state
OPONG'S ONSLAUGHT. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday visits residents of Masbate who were displaced by Typhoon Opong. He led the turnover of some P3 million to the provincial government to facilitate the immediate repairs of the damaged Masbate Provincial Hospital. PCO
OGO CITY—The death toll from a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the central Visayas rose to at least 69 on Wednesday, a disaster official said, with scores of injured patients overwhelming hospitals on the island of Cebu. Injured children cried and adults screamed while being treated on beds beneath blue tents outside the Cebu Provincial Hospital, having been wheeled outside as a precaution against waves of aftershocks overnight in what is recorded to be the strongest tremor to hit the province. They are survivors of the shallow quake that struck late Tuesday off Cebu island's north near Bogo, a city of 90,000 people, according to the US Geological Survey. Others were not so fortunate, with hospital workers loading black body bags into vans that took the dead to Next page local mortuaries.
400-year-old dormant fault caused tremor By Rio N. Araja THE Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Wednesday said a fault that had not produced a powerful tremor in the past 400 years could have triggered the deadly 6.9-magnitude earthquake that jolted Cebu on Tuesday night. Phivolcs Seismological Observation and Earthquake Prediction Division chief Dr. Winchelle Ian Sevilla said the epicenter of the tremor had not experienced a strong quake in four centuries based on the agency's database. Only quakes of magnitudes 4 and below had been recorded in the affected areas, Sevilla said. The tremor was the deadliest to hit the country in more than a decade Next page