'No sign of life' in landslide; rescue operations stopped

By Pamela Mariz Geminiano

ITOGON, Benguet -- Secretary Francis Tolentino, Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs, has directed operatives to focus on just body retrieval operations, as there seems to be "no sign of life" left at the landslide area in this mining town.

In a press conference here on Tuesday afternoon, Tolentino said rescue operations in the area would have to be stopped, shifting focus on the search and retrieval of dead bodies instead.

"We are declaring that this is purely retrieval operations, as no sign of life is being detected," he said.

It has been 10 days since the fatal landslide occurred in Barangay Ucab at the height of Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) on Sept. 15, burying scores of residents, mostly small-scale miners and contractual mining laborers.

As of 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the Cordillera Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) has confirmed 85 deaths and 23 still missing in Itogon town.

Majority of those still not found, or 17, were in Barangay Ucab, particularly in the landslide area now called here "ground zero."

 Tolentino has also instructed the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to start the psycho-social processing for the victims' relatives. 

 "This is a devastating news. That is why the DSWD will be conducting community counseling to ease the pain of the victims," he lamented.

DSWD regional director Janet Armas said her department had actually begun the community counseling for the victims, who earlier evacuated from their homes as "Ompong" ravaged the area.

Armas said a group of psychologists would be conducting stress debriefing and trauma counseling among the victims' relatives.

“There will be an augmentation of nurses coming from the DOH (Department of Health) to help during the conduct of the debriefing and counseling of the families of the victims, especially the relatives of those still missing under tons of mud,” she added.

In an earlier press conference near "ground zero,"  Tolentino said the DOH and the Office of Civil Defense had declared a "slim chance of finding survivors."

On Saturday, the Secretary and the heads of the departments in the region agreed to wait two more days before they lift the rescue operation and shift to purely retrieval.

 Brig. Gen. Leopoldo Imbang of the Philippine Army in Northern Luzon, who headed the search, rescue, and retrieval (SSR) operations, said operatives were then moving towards the old mine portal of the Benguet Corporation, where the people could have sought refuge. On Tuesday, the portal was reached and one body was found near it.

Debriefing, DNA sample taking

The CDRRMC has advised the relatives waiting for news on their missing family members to proceed to the DSWD regional office in Baguio for their psycho-social processing. 

Information obtained from reliable sources said the debriefing will include explaining to the families the operational shift from rescue to retrieval and to help them cope with the loss.

The media had been barred from the area to prevent inconvenience to the grieving relatives, who would have to accept that their family members are already dead.

The relatives were also advised to go to the DSWD, so their DNA samples would be taken for matching with the unidentified bodies earlier recovered from the site and those who are still to be recovered.

The DNA matching, while it will take long, will assure that the bodies released to the relatives are their own, the National Bureau of Investigation forensic team earlier said. 

Ifugao folks mourn townmates

Ifugao province recorded zero casualty in the onslaught of Typhoon "Ompong" but the Ifugaos are mourning the death of scores of their townmates in the landslide.

“We mourn this unfortunate incident. There was no recorded death in our province in Ifugao, but those who died and others who are missing in Itogon are from Ifugao,” Ifugao Gov. Pedro Mayam-o said in a telephone interview last week. 

He said about 80 to 90 percent of those who died in the Ucab mines, as well as those still missing, are from his province.

Mayam-o arrived in Benguet’s capital town La Trinidad on Sept. 17, in time for President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to the typhoon-devastated province to meet with the families of the victims in Baguio and Benguet and to hear about the incident.

But Mayam-o said his primary purpose in going to Benguet was to check on the welfare of his townmates--the families of most of the victims of the landslide.

He came with provincial social work office chief Joyce Niwane to assist the victims' families.

Together with the families of the victims, Mayam-o waited sitting on the sides hoping the rescue operation at "ground zero" will find survivors, or at least the remains of his townmates, who perished in the accident.

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat has also appealed to both the government and the private sector for more assistance to the families of miners who perished in Itogon. many of whom are from Ifugao and were sole breadwinners in their family.

Baguilat started the campaign immediately after it was known that scores of miners were killed in the landslides caused by the heavy rains from typhoon Ompong, which recently barreled across Luzon.

The call for donations in cash or in kind such as rice and hygiene kits was heeded by a number of individuals and institutions who sent help through Baguilat's office.

So far, close to P500,000 has been collected through fund-raising activities in Manila, which drew the support of fellow representatives in the Lower House and civil society organizations. 

Pledges also continue to come in to help the families of the fallen Ifugao miners.

As for the longer-term solution, Baguilat is calling for the review of existing mining laws to ensure that small-scale miners will be able to work in a safe environment.

At the same time, there will have to be other livelihood options available to those who went into mining to provide food on the table for their families.

“With assistance from the national government, perhaps we will be able to encourage our people to give up mining altogether and return to the province and engage in the traditional livelihood of agriculture or other viable alternatives. We are famous for our rice and also for our coffee. The potential for growth remains and we just need further assistance to unleash that full potential,” Baguilat said.

As Congressman of Ifugao, Baguilat has supported livelihood generation in his province by providing enterprise grants to community organisations, helping organic farming communities in their marketing and production needs and allocating funds for improvement of farm to market roads. -- With reports from Pamela Mariz Geminiano, PNA