PRRD to visit Natonin
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is expected to visit Natonin, Mountain Province which was hardly hit during the onslaught of Typhoon Rosita Tuesday afternoon.
At least three died after the DPWH 2nd Engineering District in Barangay Banawel was covered by the landslide triggered by the rains and winds.
The Office of the Civil Defense in the Cordillera identified the casualties as Benito Falangad, Jeofrey Nagawa Salangay and Virgilio Roxas.
Five others were already rescued namely Joventino Lamawen, Inocencio Bolingaw, Fitzgerald Lumpaga,
Jupiter Gaawan and Jun Jun Matchamun.
Initial accounts by residents and responders believe the casualties to be at 28 with 20 as laborers working at the buildings of DPWH, a project engineer, two security guards, five evacuees with two evacuees accounted for.
Mountain Province Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Edward Chumawer Jr. said clearing operations are now underway in the areas which were reported as impassable due to the effects of Typhoon Rosita in the province.
“DPWH have asked the different contractors to help clear the roads from Paracellis going to Natonin and we have revived information coming from the BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection) that they have recovered the body of Virgilio Roxas and one survivor Joventino Lamawen,” Chumawer said.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Assistant Secretary Anna Marie Banaag in a radio interview over Radyo Pilipinas Baguio said as of this morning, responders coming from the AFP and PNP together with the Bureau of Fire Protection and those coming from Paracellis who were forced to walk towards the site due to massive landslide along the road.
“We were able to talk to one of the security guards who survived and based on his recollection, he noticed the incoming landslide while he was in the process of closing the gate of the building which forced him to take cover at a nearby sewerage,” Banaag explained, who was a former mayor of the town.
Ruben Carandang, Cordillera regional director of OCD have proceeded to the site together with operatives coming from the 54th Infantry Battalion and the Tactical Operations Group 1, while responders now present at the site are those coming from the Natonin Municipal Police Office and the Bureau of Fire Protection, Mountain Province Provincial Police Office, the Local Government Unit of Natonin, and the Barlig and Paracellis BFP.