By TARA YAP
Iloilo City — At least eight people died and scores more went missing as typhoon “Ursula” pounded the northern part of Panay Island on Christmas Day.
The Western Visayas Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (Western Visayas RDRRMC) confirmed this on a site report released late Wednesday night.
Of the eight casualties, six were recorded in northern Iloilo province. Three of them were identified as 62-year-old Danilo Abendanio, 56-year-old Henry “Dodok” Alfuente, and 30-year-old Joemar dela Cruz of Balasan town.
The three other victims were members of the De Asis family of Batad town, namely 41-year-old Roel and his two children — 5-year-old Meme and Yanyan.
The two remaining fatalities were in Capiz province. They were identified as 53-year-old Merlinda Delatina Baquilar of Pontevedra town and 12-year-old Edward Gautani of President Roxas town.
“It was a sad Christmas. There were casualties and the damage is extensive,” said Jose Roberto Nuñez, regional director for Western Visayas of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).
Nuñez, who chairs the Western Visayas RDRRMC, admitted that reports
from other parts of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo provinces are slowly coming in.
The Western Visayas RDRRMC reports six more people missing, but numbers with local officials vary.
Jerry Bionat, executive director of the Iloilo Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (Iloilo PDRRMC), said there are 12 missing persons in northern Iloilo province.
Judy Grace Pelaez of Capiz PDRRMC said that records show only one missing person, but the number may rise as reports are also slowly coming in.
The communication system has hampered the real time delivery of reports as well as mobile and Internet signal were spotty in other areas of northern Panay Island. In particular, many parts of Aklan province lost power since Christmas Eve.
