BY MARTIN SADONGDONG * AARON RECUENCO
More bodies were recovered by search, rescue, and retrieval (SRR) operation teams in areas devastated by supertyphoon “Rolly”, raising the death toll in Bicol (Region 5) and Calabarzon (Region 4A) to 24 as of Tuesday, according to authorities.
Based on the consolidated report of the Philippine National Police (PNP), four more deaths were reported in Bicol and two others in Calabarzon.
Earlier, Claudio Yucut, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense in Bicol (OCD-5), said they have recorded 20 fatalities on Monday night – seven in Guinobatan, three in Malinao, two in Tabaco City, and one each in Daraga and Polangui towns in Albay province, and four in Virac, and one each in Gigmoto and San Miguel towns in Catanduanes province.
Of the fatalities, 15 were already identified by the authorities.
They were Lenelyn Lodado, 50 (Daraga); Ligaya Olayta; Dave Ongarin; Santiago delos Angeles; Malou Nota; Samuel Manrique Jr., 5; Elvie Manrique, 50; Michaela Manrique, 18 (all from Guinobatan); John Michael Melgar, 18; Jesus Rodriguez, 91; Marlyn Canon, 32 (all from Malinao); Alvin Lunas, 33; Jonathan Conserte (both from Tabaco City); Luis Ubalde Jr., 48 (Gigmoto); and Danilo Barba Jr., 35 (Virac).
Most of them died of drowning while others were hit by fallen trees and other debris during the onslaught of typhoon Rolly.
There were also some who were killed and whose bodies were swept in other municipalities after a lahar flow hit Tabaco City, Sto. Domingo, Camalig, and Guinobatan in Albay.
The PNP reported that five more people were still on the missing list, three of them are in Bicol region and one each in CALABARZON and MIMAROPA (Mindoro Oriental and Occidental, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan).
A total of 26 people, on the other hand, were reported injured.
In a separate report, Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said another fatality was recorded in Rizal province.
The NDRRMC has a lower overall tally with 17 dead as of 8 a.m. Tuesday.
Jalad explained that reports from the ground of casualties in Bicol Region were continuously being verified at the national level.
The number of evacuees, according to the PNP data, is at 611,893 people – almost all of them is in Bicol Region with 553,873 individuals followed by CALABARZON with 42,430 individuals and Western Visayas with 7,627.
MIMAROPA has still 3,205 evacuees, Eastern Visayas with 2,437 evacuees, Central Luzon with 2,033 individuals staying in evacuation centers, and Cordillera Administrative Region with 14.
Police regional offices also reported that there are 241 areas in the country with no power supply-including the entire provinces of Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Catanduanes, Sorsogon and some parts of Naga City and Masbate.
In MIMAROPA, there are 94 areas with no electricity, 68 in CALABARZON, 10 in the Cordillera region, seven in Cagayan Valley Region, three in Central Luzon and two areas in Metro Manila.
On the other hand, there are 103 areas with no telecommunication signal, most of them in Bicol and MIMAROPA.
The AFP is the lead agency in the SRR missions related to typhoon Rolly.
General Gilbert Gapay, AFP Chief, said all military units in the areas affected by typhoon Rolly were on heightened alert for humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) operations.
“The whole of Joint Task Force Bicolandia is on search, retrieval, and rescue operations mode. With the shift of focus from internal security operations to disaster response, all infantry battalions of the Philippine Army in the 9th Infantry Division area of responsibility were tapped to conduct SRR in support to the local government units,” Gapay said.
