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PARRYING questions implying that the government had not done much, or had not adequately prepared for Typhoon Ulises, especially for Metro Manila, the deputy administrator of operations for the Civil Defense Office, Casiano Monilla, said that the OCD and the National Council Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRMC) had issued constant warnings about meteorological disturbances.
This, given that the authorities counted 13 dead, 20 wounded and 15 disappeared as a result of Ulises until 6 pm on Thursday, according to the consolidated report of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
He argued that the government was not surprised by the howler, as these warnings, accompanied by calls for preparations, were spread publicly and among local officials, days before the typhoon hit Luzon.
Monilla said Filipinos, or local officials, may not have “internalized” the warnings.
An updated consolidated report from the Philippine National Police showed that at least 81,047 families, or 301,765 people, were evacuated in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4A, 4B, 5 and 8 and in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
The report released through PNP spokesman Colonel Ysmael Yu said that at least 108 areas in the Cordilleras, Region 2, Calabarzon and in Bicol were without telecommunications signal, while 104 roads in eight regions remained impassable.
One person also died and five others were injured, both in the Bicol region.
The report said that a large portion of Metro Manila’s key and inland highways were also flooded.
In Marikina City, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the military rushed personnel and assets in coordinated search and rescue operations to remove residents from flooded homes and areas.
Staff from the three major response agencies were also carrying out similar activities in other areas of Luzon affected by floods and landslides.
Compared to Ondoy, which flooded the city of Marikina during the day, floods flooded the city from Wednesday night until Thursday, when the mass rescue operation peaked.
Adjacent areas of Rizal province, including Rodríguez, were also flooded, as were villages in the provinces surrounding Metro Manila. Across Luzon, local officials and residents affected by Ulises issued requests for help.
The PNP deployed 5,560 disaster response personnel to all affected areas, while another 20,207 personnel are on standby as augmentation forces.
The NDRRMC warned of the potential for flooding to worsen or recede a bit further as water trapped in the mountains begins to cascade into tributaries when the rain begins to subside, and even with dam officials warning that they would release waters.
In Quezon, 2North Dakota The spokesman for the Infantry Division, Captain Jayrald Ternio, reported that elements of the 85th The Infantry Battalion was hired by members of the New People’s Army in a 50-minute firefight in the city of Macalelon.
He said that based on Brig. Norwyn Tolentino, commander of 201S t Brigade, the soldiers were supposed to augment other ground forces when they could track and engage some 20 rebels under the Sol and Japson Platoon of the South Tagalog Party Regional Committee in Barangay Lahing.
2North Dakota The ID commander, Major General Greg Almerol, condemned the rebels for “threatening the communities and endangering their lives” rather than helping them amid the typhoon, and ordered the soldiers not to let their guard down amid the disaster response operations.
Ternio said that at least 702 soldiers and 91 military trucks were previously stationed in southern Tagalog for disaster operations.
