PNP PULLS OUT PERSONNEL FROM
CALAMITY-HIT AREAS
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Signs like this are now placed in geologically hazardous areas in
Baguio City to prevent further loss of lives during landslides, as what happened
during typhoon ‘Pepeng.’ The Mines and Geosciences Bureau’s Cordillera office
has called the city’s attention to the risks that future calamities may bring in
these disaster-prone areas. Andy Zapata Jr.]
MANILA, OCTOBER 27, 2009 (STAR) By James Mananghaya - The Philippine National Police (PNP) has started pulling out its personnel who were earlier deployed in calamity-stricken areas in central Luzon and the Ilocos region, as typhoon “Ramil” has left the country without hitting land, an official said yesterday.
Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, chief of the Police Community Relations Service and concurrent head of the National Disaster Management Task Group, said some 300 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) who were deployed to the two regions to conduct search and rescue operations, have started returning to their mother units since the other day as the weather condition has improved.
“These SAF troopers are also equipped with 12 rubber boats for this purpose so these have been returned to their mother units already,” he said.
Bartolome said personnel of the PNP Maritime Group who were also deployed to these areas have also started to pull out.
Upon their return, Bartolome said the police commandos and those from other units would undergo disaster management training.
[PHOTO AT LEFT - Cleanup in Baguio Massive cleanup is ongoing in Baguio cemeteries in time for All Saints’ Day. ANDY ZAPATA JR.]
He said the SAF would hold a disaster response drill instead of the usual force march on Wednesday at their headquarters in Taguig City.
“These seminars that we are planning aim to enhance the capability of our policemen to respond to calamities and emergencies after what happened during the onslaught of tropical storm ‘Ondoy’ and typhoon ‘Pepeng,’” he said.
He said the training would involve all the services of the PNP such as the medical and other technical departments that could be immediately deployed during emergencies.
Bartolome said those deployed in the Cordillera Administrative Region were territorial forces and need not be pulled out.
He said they are planning to give due recognition to their forces who helped in the search and rescue operations, as well as in the relief and rehabilitation efforts during the recent calamities.
Aid package readied for typhoon victims (The Philippine Star) Updated October 27, 2009 12:00 AM
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet , Philippines – A package of assistance is being readied for the havoc tropical storm Ondoy and Pepeng’s caused to crops in Luzon’s seven regions. Reaching a total of P18.4 billion as pegged by the agriculture department, DA is firming up the chart for recovery in these calamity affected areas.
The implementing strategies are being polished such that rice farms with no chance of recovery will be rehabilitated with the DA providing seeds and other inputs, as soon as the farmers are ready to replant their damaged farms.
Ondoy destroyed a total of P6.8 billion while Pepeng almost doubling it at P 11.7 billion.
According to the Department of Agriculture’s Central Action Center as quoted by DA-CAR spokesman Robert Domoguen, the two typhoons destroyed some 121,949 hectares of crop lands causing the loss of 925,523 metric tons of rice, corn, and high value crops; as well as fishery products, livestock, and poultry, and P2.7 billion worth of farm infrastructures.
Rice areas were the most affected with 109,188 hectares that have no chance of recovery, followed by 9,961 hectares corn and 2,800 hectares high value cash crop (HVCC) farms.
Damaged farmlands lost some 839,241 metric tons of palay; 45,768 MT of corn, and 40,514 MT of HVCC.
In the Cordillera, the agriculture department pegged the still partial agricultural crop damage from the six provinces to reach a total loss of P1,153,188,693.28. Not included in the report are damages incurred by the fisheries sector, postharvest facilities and irrigation networks. – Artemio Dumlao