Gov't issues gag order on 'Yolanda' death toll announcements

MANILA, Philippines - National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Executive Director Eduardo del Rosario said he issued on Friday a gag order on all government agencies regarding making statements on the number of fatalities from super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

Del Rosario said he has directed all member agencies of the Council not to release unofficial or unvalidated information regarding the ongoing operations in Eastern Visayas.

"During our meeting, sinabihan natin lahat ang ating member-agency na wala nang magsasabi ng kanyang opinyon without the official figure para isa lang ang vioice with regards to number of casualties, and that would be the NDRRMC," Del Rosario said in a briefing at the agency's headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

Del Rosario said that announcements on the official figures on the super typhoon's effect should come from him, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and theif spokespersons.

Gazmin, the chief of the Department of National Defense, chairs the NDRRMC while the Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas acts as its co-chairperson.

The gag order was issued after the United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported a total of 4,460 people killed in the typhoon and at least 921,200 individuals were displaced.

The UN-OCHA also pegged the number of people affected by the typhoon to 11.8 million and a total of 243,000 houses destroyed.

Official death toll

During the press briefing, Del Rosario said that the official death toll as of Friday afternoon was 3,621.

The figure is lower than the UN's report, but higher than the projected figure announced by President Benigno Aquino III during an interview with CNN.

President Aquino said that the dead could only reach between 2,000 and 2,500, denying an earlier estimate by the regional police official in Eastern Visayas of 10,000 fatalities.

The police official has been sacked from his post.

"Actually, we are trying to find out dahil may quoted agencies. we coordinated with those agencies mentioned and they claimed that they did not give any figure. So we are still validating and finding out how come this publication went out," he said, referring to the UN report.

Del Rosario, meanwhile, explained how they meticulously check and counter-check the figures coming from the field.

He said the NDRRMC is revalidating the figures on dead persons given by the local executives in a particular area before releasing them to the public.

"Kailangan talaga yung physical count. Iyon ang kailangan natin. Magkakaroon kasi ng problema kapag sinabi nila we have buried already gumawa na sila ng mass grave. Hindi naman natin buksan na at hukayin uli. So  ang gagawin na naman natin is to talk to the local official," Del Rosario said.