ST. BERNARD, Southern Leyte - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday asked the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and the Social Security Services (SSS) to give immediate support to the victims of the mudslide that buried one barangay here last Friday.
Meanwhile, 10 bodies that were already in an advanced state of decomposition were recovered yesterday afternoon at the barangay school building where “signs of life” were reportedly faintly detected by rescuers the other day.
The rescuers, composed of Malaysian and PNOC teams and other rescue groups, opened the roof of the school building around 2 p.m. yesterday and pulled out the casualties.
But when the rescuers demolished a wall of a nearby house, they were surprised to find a chicken still alive. This was confirmed by Capt. Burrel Parmer of the US Marines.
President Arroyo made a brief visit here yesterday, accompanied by Japanese Ambassador Ryuichiro Yamazaki and several Cabinet members and top military officials.
President Arroyo asked GSIS President Winston Garcia to immediately act on the assistance to the landslide victims.
The President, in her brief visit here, was so sober and tears were seen to have fallen from her eyes. Watching the destroyed mountain from the operation center was among the first things the President did upon her arrival here.
Garcia, who was also present during her visit, conformed with the President’s order, saying that government employees who were victims of the tragedy could be accommodated to avail of P100,000 up to P500,000 in housing loan.
Garcia said that the 12 government employees who were victims of the tragedy were also entitled to the maximum benefit of 18 months monthly salary compensation on top of their other benefits.
The President’s chopper landed at the operations center, just a few meters away from the main area of Guinsaugon, at around 10:20 a.m., with Sec. Michael Defensor, her chief of staff, wherein she was met by different government and provincial officials led by Gov. Rosette Lerias and Mayor Maria Lim.
Inside the operations center, the provincial governor gave her a briefing on the on-going retrieval operations conducted by multi-national rescue groups with death was officially placed at 107 as of yesterday afternoon.
“The President appeared to be pleased on how the retrieval operation is being conducted,” Mayor Lim, reached on her mobile phone, told Leyte Samar Daily Express.
Gov. Rosette Lerias of Southern Leyte briefed the President on the search and rescue operations that has been conducted at the ground zero site.
UN at work
Gov. Lerias said that days after the tragedy struck Brgy. Guinsaugan, Friday, international rescue groups came into the area that the situation, she said, has become like the United Nations at work. She praised all the nations that came here to support in the continuing search and rescue operation in the barangay.
The President expressed gratitude to all the nations and all others that supported the operations here. Lerias said efforts to find survivors or other victims in the “ground zero” continued even at nights as American had generators to light the area.
The governor then asked the President for a possible aerial survey of the area for a possible relocation site of the victims. The LGU is not only planning to relocate the survivors in Brgy. Guinsaugan but also the residents of Brgy. Ahayag, Sug-angan, Nueva Esperanza, Magatas, and Hinabian.
Lerias said that residents of these barangays were also facing the same threat from environment destruction like what happened to Brgy. Guinsaugon.
She added that once the proper site for the relocation would be found, business tycoon Lucio Tan had assured to support the development of the relocation site.
Meanwhile, National Disaster Coordinating Council chairman Glenn Rabonza told the President that a group of American geologist is coming here to conduct an aerial survey of the disaster area. “They will be coming here soon, “ Rabonza said in his briefing to the President.
More Japanese aid
But Japanese Ambassador Yamazaki told President Arroyo and Gov. Lerias that geological experts from the Japanese International Cooperation Incorporation (JICA) have already arrived in Tacloban City yesterday morning and were on their way here to conduct the aerial survey in the area.
The ambassador said in an interview that the aerial survey is just among the assistance that his country could give to this town at this moment. He added that last Feb. 21 his country donated Emergency Aid Materials to this town amounting to 24, 828,720 yen or some 10,860 pesos. The ambassador added that once the aerial survey could locate the proper place for the relocation he also assured that another support would come.
After the briefing on the situation, the President went to a waiting room so she could personally condoled with the victims. One of those that the President condoled with was Dr. Freddie Letegio, the municipal doctor of this town, who lost his wife Athena Fe in tragedy. The president asked Garcia to give assistance to Dr. Letegio.
Dr. Letegio’s wife was the municipal nurse who was in the barangay during the tragedy, attending the anniversary of Women’s Health.
Southern Leyte PIA Infocen Manager Erna Gorne told Express that the President was not only informed on the latest operation in Guinsaugon but on the entire situation of Southern Leyte, identified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as one of the country’s disaster-prone areas.
The President directed the DENR to conduct a geo-hazard mapping on the entire province to avoid last Friday’s incident. The Feb. 17 incident was the latest of the series of natural disasters to hit the province.
Prior to the incident in Guinsaugon, seven persons died in a landslide in sitio Agas-Agas, Brgy. Kahupian, Sogod town. And last December 2003, around 200 persons were killed when a landslide hit Panaon Island.
Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban, in a radio interview, said that they would be coming on a program to help the farmers of Guinsaugon.
“We will assess the damage and what we can help to the affected families. (But) initially, we plan to given livelihood assistance to the dependents of the farmers,” Panganiban told radio DyVL in Tacloban yesterday morning. Imelda visits St. Bernard.
As the President was about to leave and the engine of the helicopter she boarded was already on, former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos made a sudden entry. The President disembarked the helicopter to meet and hug the former first lady.
Mrs. Marcos told media here that she was happy that the search and rescue operations were made intensely. She was also thankful that foreigners were helping hand in hand with local search and rescue groups in search for survivors.
St Bernard Mayor Maria Lim in an interview said that the president’s visit was huge moral booster for her, the victims and the whole people of this town. Mayor Lim also expressed gratitude for the promise of support of the President, especially about the livelihood program of those to be relocated.
Gov. Lerias for her part said that she is expecting the arrival of promised assistance and support of the President as she said the President had always been true to her promises. (With a report from Fred Padernos)
