MORE diggers have joined the search and rescue operations in Naga City, Cebu to locate more residents who were buried in a landslide last week.
On the other hand, rescuers searching for missing miners in Itogon, Benguet have started to lose hope of getting survivors after more than a week of operations.
As of yesterday, 51 bodies have been dug up in Naga City while 75 people were reported dead in Itogon which include those killed in the massive landslide that hit the bunkhouse of miners in Barangay Ucab.
Chief Insp. Roderick Gonzales, chief of police of Naga City, said 536 rescuers from government agencies and civilian groups are involved in the search and rescue operations, the focus of which is Barangay Tina-an which was worst hit by the landslide on Sept. 20.
Gonzales said that such manpower is needed especially that it was a portion of a mountain which cascaded and buried residents.
Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Francis Tolentino said they are currently looking for 39 missing people in Itogon.
Tolentino, the appointed pointman of President Duterte on typhoon “Ompong” (international name “Mangkhut”) response, said the death toll based on the report of the local police is 75.
Authorities are expecting difficulty in the identification of the dead miners who have been recovered since some of them are not residents of Itogon or Benguet and nearby areas. “Most of the trapped miners are outsiders. They don’t have relatives here,” said Tolentino.
Based on the result of the initial investigation, some of the victims are from Nueva Ecija, Batangas, and Quirino.
“This could be the reason why they did not evacuate. Because they have nowhere to go,” said Tolentino.
The government has vowed to account for all the missing victims of Ompong.
Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police, said they remain hopeful that will still get survivors in the Naga City and Itogon landslides. “We are hopeful and we are not giving up,” said Albayalde. (Aaron B. Recuenco)
