CEBU, Philippines — Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone and Borongan City Mayor Maria Fe Abunda, accompanied by officials of the province and DPWH-Eastern Samar Engineering District, went to the typhoon Urduja-devastated hinterland barangay of San Mateo, days before Christmas Day.
Evardone and Abunda brought relief goods and conducted damage assessment of the village, which is located at the foot of the mountains in Eastern Samar and is lying near a river that makes it highly vulnerable to floods and landslides, with or without typhoons.
After the inspection and assessment, the officials agreed on the imperative of relocating the entire village to a safer place.
This plan to relocate the barangay has actually been recommended three years ago, when typhooon Ruby left it in ruins, but residents opposed the proposal with hesitation and apprehension.
The devastation that Ruby started in 2014, Urduja tried it again and almost succeeded this year—obliterating the entire barangay with the deadly, raging waters of the Borongan River.
Excessive rainfall caused the river to overflow and, instead of following its natural course, the floodwaters took and followed Ruby's path by hammering the village with its devastating muddy waters.
There is no need to conduct a loyalty check among Army troops stationed in Negros island, according to Colonel Alberto Desoyo, commander of the 303rd Infantry Brigade.
Controversial lawyer, 50-year-old Edeljulio Romero, is dead.
An estimated P1.3-million worth of shabu was reported yesterday by the police to have been seized from two arrested suspects, after a series of anti-drug operations in Negros Occidental.
More supporters and sympathizers of the New People’s Army in the hinterlands of central Negros have renounced their support to the rebel movement, and pledged to support the government instead.
Three anti-drugs operations in Dumaguete City last Wednesday yielded a total of 155 grams of shabu with an estimated worth P1,829,000.