Two siblings die in Taytay landslide; girl, 12, drowns in Pasay

TAYTAY, Rizal – A landslide at an informal settler community here killed two siblings and injured their mother and two other siblings following a heavy downpour caused by tropical depression “Maring”

Tuesday.

Mayor Joric Gacula identified the fatalities as siblings Jude, 17 and Justine, 14 – both surnamed Fundal of Creekside, Hapay na Mangga of Barangay Dolores, here.

Their mother, Judith, 35 suffered a fractured left hand. Also injured were siblings Joshua, 15 and Jerome, 9.

Reports reaching the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City showed that the landslide took place at about 4:30 a.m. yesterday while the victims were asleep.

Gacula said the victims were informal settlers who constructed their shanty beside the danger zone in Barangay Dolores despite of the warnings from the local government.

Authorities said they were in the process of forcibly evacuating around 20 families whose shanties are built along danger zones.

In Pasay City, a 12-year-old girl drowned when she jumped into the Tripa de Galina River in Barangay 179 and failed to resurface before noon yesterday.

City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) officer Michael Flores identified the victim as Samantha Zamora, of Barangay 177, Malibay, Pasay City.

Flores said that Zamora's body was found floating on the Tripa de Galina River.

The incident was immediately reported to the police because the river is located at the back of the police station.

Supt. Deanry Francisco, assistant chief of police for operations, said Zamora was with her four friends who went for a swim in the river despite the heavy rain around 8 a.m.

Zamora reportedly wasn't able to gauge the depth of the water and never surfaced. He was identified by her father, Arnold.

A three-month-old baby was crushed to death by a landslide southeast of Metro Manila.

In Calamba, Laguna, flood washed away a shanty, leaving six inhabitants missing. (With reports from Martin A. Sadongdong)