Benguet police chief axed over Lando deaths as death toll soars to 58

CASIGURAN, Aurora, Philippines – Interior and Local Government Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento yesterday ordered the relief of the Benguet police provincial director for inefficient preparation after the province suffered the highest number of casualties at 14 during Typhoon Lando.

Sarmiento directed Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ricardo Marquez to relieve Sr. Supt. David Lacsan from his post.

“I asked the PNP chief to relieve the PD (police director) of Benguet. What did he do? Why did that happen?” Sarmiento remarked.

Widespread flooding in Central Luzon caused by Lando had eased but the storm’s death toll climbed to 58 and tens of thousands of people remained in evacuation centers.

Lando (international name Koppu) melted into a low- pressure area yesterday as it crossed Balintang Channel in the Batanes Islands, the state weather bureau said.

As the weather improved three days after the onslaught of Lando, officials were also counting the cost of ruined crops and drowned livestock from heavy rain that flowed into the vast farming regions in Central Luzon.

Local officials of Casiguran, the town that bore the brunt of the category 4 typhoon last Sunday, are seeking help from the national government.

They pointed out 90 percent of the town was devastated in the wake of Lando.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Lando left P6.57 billion worth of damage to crops and infrastructure.

Heavy rains across the mountainous northern Luzon, the cause of most of the flooding in the farming plains, had also eased, disaster officials said.

The deaths in the flooded areas were caused mostly by drowning, but also electrocution and crumbling walls, while one person died due to snake bite.

Another 20 people were killed in the Cordillera Administrative Region, 14 of them in Benguet province, where the intense rain triggered landslides that buried homes and destroyed roads.

Elsewhere across the country, people were killed in inclement weather – 13 in Central Luzon, nine from Western Visayas, eight from the Ilocos region, five from Cagayan Valley, two from Metro Manila and one from Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), bringing the total to 58.

Aside from the 58 deaths, 87 persons were injured while nine others have gone missing and are presumed dead.

But some other missing were found. They included six mountaineers and their three guides on Mt. Davildavilan in Dingalan, Aurora and three fishermen off the shores of Bataan. They were among the reported missing at the height of Typhoon Lando last weekend.

Sarmiento noted Benguet registered the highest number of casualties that could have been prevented were it not for the lack of preparatory measures.

“The casualties, instead of 11, climbed to 14. We warned them that this storm would bring heavy rains that would result in landslides. Considering the terrain there, it is landslide prone so they could have imposed a forced evacuation and those were the instructions. Force them to move out,” Sarmiento told reporters as he led a team in assessing the response operation for the affected families in Casiguran, considered ground zero of Typhoon Lando.

The typhoon since downgraded to a storm has been lingering in Northern and Central Luzon, bringing heavy rains since Saturday as it moved at a slow pace of four to six kilometers per hour for days.

Sarmiento said the NDRRMC reported similar incidents happen about twice a year, thus the police officials in the region should know the preparations needed.

“That (high casualty rate) is not something I find acceptable,” Sarmiento said.

Although there were preparations, Sarmiento said it was not enough to protect the people in Benguet.

“The police are there to serve and protect, that’s part of the job of the PNP,” he said.

The previous day’s death toll had been 30. But the figure climbed partly due to reports coming in from remote areas, and not just because of new deaths on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The flooding has not completely subsided, forcing more than 107,000 people to remain in evacuation centers, the NDRRMC said.

The Department of Public Works and Highways said the roads going to Baguio City are now open, except for Kennon Road.

The state weather bureau, on the other hand, has lifted all storm warning signals in the affected areas.

As of 4 p.m. yesterday, Lando was spotted at 120 kilometers southeast of Basco, Batanes.

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) weather forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said the low-pressure area is likely to dissipate while inside the Philippine area of responsibility within the next 24 hours.

However, the low-pressure area would still bring light to moderate rains and isolated thunderstorms over the Ilocos region, Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley until today.

PAGASA advised fisherfolk not to venture out to the northern seaboard of Northern Luzon due to big waves generated by the tail end of a cold front.

No tropical cyclone is expected to enter the country in the next three days, PAGASA said.

Metro Manila and the rest of the country will continue to experience fair weather with isolated thunderstorms until the weekend.

Tomorrow and Sunday would have generally fair weather conditions, apart from isolated thunderstorms expected in the whole country, PAGASA said. –Jaime Laude, Helen Flores, Evelyn Macairan, Rainier Allan Ronda, Ric Sapnu, Ramon Efren Lazaro, Mike Frialde, Ding Cervantes, Jun Elias, Raymund Catindig