25 DROWN IN DAVAO FLOODS / OPPOSITION: PINOYS MADE MISTAKE ELECTING NOY
DAVAO CITY, JUNE 30, 2011 (STAR) By Edith Regalado [Photo is loading... Soldiers of the Philippine Army's 10th Infantry Division retrieve the remains of a victim of the flashfloods that hit parts of Davao City before dawn yesterday (above), while a member of Task Force Davao carries a child as search and rescue operations for the flood victims continue (right). Edith Regalado]
Twenty-five people, including children as young as two years old, were confirmed dead and 15 others were still missing in flashfloods that hit the city following a three-hour downpour that started late Tuesday night.
At least 15,000 families were affected by the flooding, said to be the worst to hit the city in recent years.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte said that as of yesterday noon, 15 people were still missing and a total of 40 houses were washed away. The city estimated the total cost of damage at P40 million, including the wrecked footbridge in barangay Matina Pangi.
Among the dead were Angelita Paches, 65 years old; Alexander Baricuatro, four years old; Jason Ataros, three; and John Michel Alvarez, seven; Rowena Balderosa, seven; Melchin Roseno, two; John Carlo Alvarez, three; Jason Aturos, three; and Tito Servidad, 53 years old; Dennis Ayag, four years old; Pastor Jimmy Bao; Conchita Bao; Isadora Baricuatro, all residents of Matina Pangi.
Thousands more were inundated by the rising floodwater in at least four barangays, namely Matina Aplaya, Matina Pangi, Bangkal and Talomo. Some reports said floodwaters reached as high as four feet inside subdivisions.
Authorities closed the Matina-Balusong Bridge after cracks were noticed in the bridge, causing heavy traffic.
Duterte called for an emergency meeting to map out efforts of the city government to help the victims.
Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte also called for a special session of the city council for the declaration of a state of calamity in the affected areas.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) here revealed that they only recorded 8 mm of rain, although their rain gauge is located at their station near the airport and not in Matina, where the heavy downpour took place.
Mayor Duterte said cash assistance will be given to the flashflood victims while they could also avail of possible relocation should they decide to transfer to safer ground.
PAGASA officials said the rains were caused by an intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) that hit most parts of Mindanao, including this city.
They said the rains would continue until over the weekend due to continued stay of the ITCZ in the area.
The city government immediately put up evacuation centers in elevated portions of the city, but most of the flood victims went back to their homes as soon as the water subsided at around 4 a.m. yesterday.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided relief assistance worth P380,000 to the victims, while the Philippine Coast Guard has deployed expert divers and two rubber boats to help in the rescue efforts.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the DSWD-Field Office XI already requested the central office for the release of P5.3 million to purchase additional relief goods.
As of 1 p.m. yesterday, a total of 1,475 families with 7,375 persons remained inside the evacuation centers in Central Park Gym, Matina Pangi, Matina Aplaya and Matina Balusong in Davao City.
She said the 23,525 families with 117,625 persons who opted to stay outside evacuation centers are also being provided with food and non-food commodities.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) mobilized its entire disaster units with the help of the DSWD, Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), in coordination with the city's disaster units.
The DOH in Davao Region is also in the area and has provided P31,000 worth of medicines while conducting health assessment and monitoring in the evacuation centers.
The fatalities are expected to rise as scores of missing residents in the flood-stricken villages have yet to be recovered by Army and police and other rescue teams.
PAGASA: 'Ondoy'-like rains possible
Graciano Yumul, PAGASA supervising undersecretary, said the rains that triggered flashflood in the city were not brought by a weather disturbance but localized thunderstorms.
Yumul also warned that the country will continue to experience excessive rainfall until September due to the residual effect of the La Niña phenomenon.
She said the La Niña event has terminated last May but there is a lag time of three to four months that is why the public could still feel its effects.
"The southwest monsoon (habagat) will still persist until September, so if a typhoon hits the country and enhances the habagat, we could expect Ondoy-like rain," Yumul said in Filipino.
On Sept. 26, 2009, tropical storm "Ondoy" (international name Ketsana) dumped over 400 millimeters of rains in Metro Manila and nearby provinces in nine hours, leaving some P11.1 billion worth of damage to properties. It also killed 464 people and affected some 4.9 million families.
"We were in a La Niña period when Ondoy happened," Yumul explained.
Two storms - "Egay" and "Falcon" – have dumped heavy rains over most parts of the country in the past couple of weeks, affecting over a million people and destroying millions of pesos worth of properties.
He said aside from the tropical cyclones, the southwest monsoon and the intertropical convergence zone also triggered rains in some parts of Luzon and Mindanao.
"We can expect that the abnormal (weather) will be the normal (weather)," Yumul told a weekly media forum at the Philippine Information Agency in Quezon City.
He said global warming can heat the oceans and generate more moisture which leads to more rain. - Helen Flores, Evelyn Macairan, Jaime Laude, AP
Opposition: Pinoys made a mistake in electing Noy By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) Updated June 30, 2011 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos made a grave mistake in electing President Aquino and must brace for the worst in the next five years because of his continuing "ineptitude" in running the government, opposition lawmakers said yesterday.
Speaking to reporters,House of Representatives Minority Leader Edcel Lagman said shibboleths and promises during the presidential campaign concealed and overshadowed Aquino's inadequacies.
"These were the same inadequacies he brought to Malacañang and as the truism goes, one cannot squeeze blood from rock."
Lagman said only talent, experience, competence and dedication can make a good president.
"These solid attributes are not legal qualifications for the presidency," he said.
"But they are invaluable standards, which the voters must consider and assess in choosing their President."
Lagman said since Aquino apparently has "less in capabilities," he "must have more in good counsel and worthy subalterns."
"But is the President appointing the right people?" he asked.
"This dilemma will bedevil the President and this country for the next five years. The people should be prepared to expect the worst because their mistaken choice is the big problem. Blunder begets disaster."
Lagman said it was not advisable to grade Aquino on a scale of one to 10 as "periodic report card with graded achievements and failures is for school kids and students, not for the nation's Chief Executive."
Lagman said it would be better to send regular wake-up calls to the President on his performance versus his campaign promises and on the state of the economy and governance versus the current data on prime economic and social indicators.
"This way the President could grade himself if he has sufficient discernment of crucial data and a serious commitment to his exalted position," he said.
"Otherwise, no amount of faltering grades will jolt him to reality and action, and no diminishing marks from critics will convince him to abandon an offensive agenda of vindictiveness and a defensive aura of braggadocio."
At Malacañang,presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Lagman was once more playing fast and free with the facts, making assertions that are obsolete, misleading, or patently false.
"Here he goes again, because this is not the first time in what is turning out to be a litany of misrepresentations by him," he said.
Lacierda said on May 5 Lagman shot himself in the foot by not checking the facts in looking at the most recent Global Integrity Report.
"In his most recent squid tactic against the administration, Lagman either overlooked or chose to overlook the second quarter unemployment figures," he said.
Contrary to Lagman's parroting the equally unsubstantiated claims of (former President and Pampanga) Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, unemployment actually went down from 7.4 percent in the first quarter to 7.2 percent in the second quarter."
Lacierda said these figures were achieved despite the surge of overseas Filipino workers returning to the country due to the various conflicts in the Middle East.
"Truth is, the previous administration was never able to achieve the supposedly 'low' unemployment figure of 7.2 percent (11.3 percent in 2001, 10.3 percent in 2002, 10.6 percent in 2003, 11 percent in 2004, 11.3 percent in 2005, 8.1 percent in 2006, 7.8 percent in 2007, 7.4 percent in 2008, 7.5 percent in 2009, and 7.3 percent in 2010)," he said.
Lacierda saidLagman's fishing expedition raked up old numbers that have already been overtaken by more current data.
"These figures are comparatively far better than those of 2009 (first quarter- one percent; second quarter - 1.6 percent; third quarter - 0.5 percent; and fourth quarter - 1.4 percent)," he said. – With Ding Cervantes, Rhodina Villanueva, Evelyn Macairan, Auea Calica, AP
No reconciliation with GMA without justice' (The Philippine Star) Updated June 30, 2011 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang said it would not reconcile with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo without justice.
Speaking to reporters, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma yesterday said the prosecution of Arroyo has been delayed because the Supreme Court has struck down the Truth Commission and the former ombudsman had to be impeached.
"We cannot just forget everything or just let things be swept under the rug," he said.
However, Coloma said cases against Arroyo were being filed before other venues in the absence of the Truth Commission and an ombudsman.
"Let us look at the whole landscape," he said.
"What they are referring to are high-profile scandals and anomalies, which should have been tried under the Truth Commission.
"But the Supreme Court's initial ruling has been adverse and that is now the subject of a motion for reconsideration. That's where the delay lies.
"We must remember that on other fronts, the determination continues and we have shown that we are decisive. Every other week we alternately file cases against big time and high-profile tax evaders and smugglers, that will continue.
"More than 40 cases have been filed for each category. The cleansing of the judicial system, that is also being done."
Coloma said the new ombudsman would be a critical element in prosecuting high-profile cases.
"And we are just awaiting the completion of the JBC (Judicial and Bar Council) process that will lead to the submission of a shortlist to the President that will ultimately bring about the appointment of a new ombudsman," he said.
"This is a continuing concern that the President himself addressed throughout the past year. He repeatedly pointed out he could not push through with reforms when there was structural impediment.
"Now we have the chance. We are looking forward to the installation of a new ombudsman so that these high-profile cases can be pursued more vigorously."
Coloma said the Aquino administration has carried out reforms throughout the bureaucracy.
"That is really part of the cleaning up process," he said.
"For example in the Department of Public Works and Highways, there had been changes in the system so there would be no more overpricing of contracts," he said. "We are pursuing reforms also in other government agencies. In other words, we do not allow the initial setback – like the failure to operationalize the Truth Commission – to stop us. We just proceeded with our initiatives on all other fronts."
Coloma said "setting forth a new governance, good governance characterized by integrity, honesty, transparency and accountability" was the most important thing that happened last year.
"The people's trust is back not only in the government but also in the belief that we can all dream again and that the changes that we want can actually happen," he said.
Coloma said Aquino has no other agenda but to show the people that he was committed to obtaining justice and not promote political bickering or disunity.
"Our engagement with the opposition are all in the spirit of democratic discourse and we are not quarrelling with them," he said.
Meanwhile, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo left with husband Mike Arroyo and a party of 11, for her trip to Europe on board KLM Airlines flight KL804 at 10:55 a.m. yesterday.
The Arroyos did not avoid frisking at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal.
Arroyo came from the presidential lounge at the ground floor of the terminal using the arrival concourse while going to the pre-departure lounge.
Arroyo looked unperturbed when she came out from the elevator on the way to the KLM departure lounge to board her flight.
She is expected to be back next week.
Arroyo visits Jo's wake
Arroyo visited yesterday the wake of Josephine Ramos, daughter of former President Fidel Ramos and expressed her condolences to the family.
Arroyo arrived at Funeraria Paz in Sucat, Parañaque past 9 a.m. and gave a letter of condolence to Ramos and former first lady Amelita Ramos.
"It is with deep sorrow that we receive the news of the demise of your Josephine," Arroyo said in her letter.
"Her passing is a profound loss to her family and friends, and likewise to the community.
"As we mourn her loss, may we find solace in the knowledge that she is now at peace with our Creator after her courageous battle with a debilitating disease.
"To your family, my family's deepest sympathies and prayers."
Jo succumbed to lung cancer, an illness which she had been diagnosed with for eight months but had kept secret from her family until about five weeks ago.
Interment will take place on Friday at noon.– Aurea Calica, Rudy Santos, Paolo Romero
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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