LGUs take over Mountain Province landslide retrieval operations

NATONIN, Mountain Province – The provincial and municipal governments will take over the search and retrieval operations in Barangay Banawel in this town, which was hit by a landslide at the height of Typhoon Rosita last month.

Brig. Gen. Leopoldo Imbang Jr. of the Army’s 503rd Infantry Brigade turned over the operations to local officials yesterday after personnel of the Philippine Army, Philippine National Police and Bureau of Fire Protection were ordered to report back to their respective units.

The body of another victim, who has yet to be identified, was retrieved from the mountain rubble yesterday.

Barangay chairman Henry For-og, whose three relatives were among the fatalities, said nine victims remain missing.

“Some of the bodies of the victims were found 16 kilometers away from the five-story building of the Department of Public Works and Highways, which was buried in the landslide,” For-og said.

Josephine Tayag, 65, a resident of Barangay Ubaw, Aguinaldo, Ifugao, told The STAR that his son Regie, 24, and seven others who remain missing are their relatives.

Wilma Ngilin, 59, whose son Jonathan, 35, remains missing said the relatives of the victims,  including women, are helping in retrieval operations.

A total of 19 bodies have so far been recovered. Among those missing were five members of the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit who went on leave to work in a construction project in the area.