Dingalan mayor welcomes probe

DINGALAN, Aurora — "Go ahead, investigate me so we can ferret out the truth."

With this dare, Dingalan Mayor Jaime Ylarde welcomed yesterday the plan of government authorities to place him under investigation for his alleged involvement in illegal logging, blamed for the massive destruction which this town suffered during typhoon "Winnie."

"It’s fine with me. Let them investigate me so we can find out the truth. Let them prove that I am involved in illegal logging," he said.

Ylarde dared his accusers to personally go to Dingalan to see for themselves the truth. "The burden of proof is with them so let them come," he said.

Ylarde was reacting to reports that the Philippine National Police (PNP) would investigate him for his alleged involvement in illegal logging.

He reportedly owns a sawmill in Barangay Umiray which non-government organizations partly blamed for the devastating flash floods, landslides and mudslides that swept through the municipality.

Ylarde said the accusations against him could be the handiwork of his political foes.

He also lashed at "irresponsible members of the media" who wrote about his alleged links to illegal logging without any solid basis.

Ylarde said damage to property, government infrastructure and agriculture in his town has already reached P200 million.

"Wasak na wasak na kami (We are a total wreck here)," he said. The calamity affected 75 percent of the town’s 22,000 residents and all of its 11 barangays.

Meanwhile, Ramon Aquino, Central Luzon director of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), said the spate of typhoons that battered the region left at least P475 million in infrastructure damage.

Aquino said Aurora suffered the worst damage to roads and bridges estimated at P300 million, followed by Nueva Ecija, with P150 million.

He said five bridges in Aurora were totally washed out, while in Nueva Ecija, several roads were eroded, including the approach to the Abot bridge on the Tarlac-Zaragoza Road.

Aquino said DPWH personnel are doing maintenance work on the Pantabangan Road, the only route leading to Aurora.

"If that (road) is also damaged, relief goods (cannot be brought) to Aurora, so we need to maintain it," he said.

DPWH personnel are also restoring the Nueva Ecija portion of the 80-kilometer Baler-Bongabon Road, a 36-kilometer stretch of which remains impassable to vehicular traffic. Work on the Baler portion will start tomorrow, Aquino said.

Nueva Ecija Gov. Tomas Joson III has declared a state of calamity in parts of the province, including Cabanatuan City.

Besides Cabanatuan, also affected by the recent calamities were Palayan City, the towns of Laur, Bongabon, Gabaldon, Gen. Natividad and Sta. Rosa, and the municipalities in the fourth district.

In Pampanga, at least 60 low-lying barangays in seven towns — Candaba, Arayat, San Simon, San Luis, Apalit, Masantol and Macabebe — remained flooded, authorities said.

Engineer Armando Austria, head of the provincial disaster coordinating council, said the floodwaters were as deep as three to seven feet in these communities.

In the Cordilleras, the death toll of typhoon "Yoyong" rose to three, while seven tribesmen were reported missing after they were swept away by rampaging floodwaters in Kalinga, civil defense officials said.

The three fatalities were identified as Alfonso Benito, of Lagawe, Ifugao, and sisters Jemy Joy and Ruth Dugyon, who were both buried in a landslide in Banaue, also in Ifugao.

Regional officials initially placed "Yoyong’s" damage to agriculture at P6.888 million.

Vicente Tomazar, Cordillera director of the Office of Civil Defense, said the Benguet towns of Kapangan, Kibungan and Bakun and three others in Kalinga remained isolated due to landslides and rockslides. — With Artemio Dumlao and Ric Sapnu