LGUs end search for Mountain Province landslide victims

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines — Search and retrieval operations for the victims of a landslide in Natonin, Mountain Province will end today.

Ivy Mariano, spokesperson at the incident command post, said Mayor Mateo Chiwayan of Natonin, Mayor Gaspar Chilagan of Aguinaldo in Ifugao, volunteers and various stakeholders agreed to extend the operation only from Nov. 19 to 22 after an assessment of the situation in the area and upon the request of the families of those who remain missing.

A list obtained by The STAR identified the missing as Esther Galong, a resident of Besao, Mountain Province; Randy Sayod of Villaviciosa, Abra; Inocencio Golingoy of Barangay Banawel in Natonin; Noel Alvester of  Lanna, Tabuk in Kalinga, and Eddie Galahya, Obaldo Guihawan and Jonathan Gano, all of Aguinaldo town.

“Six persons were reported missing, but eight were on the list because two cadavers that were recovered remain unidentified,” Mariano said.

On Wednesday last week, rescue teams pulled out two bodies from the mountain rubble, bringing the number of fatalities to 22.  Several body parts were also recovered.

Villagers and workers were in a newly constructed building of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) when it was buried in a landslide at the height of Typhoon Rosita on Oct. 30.

A one-hectare rice field at the back of the DPWH building was also swept away by the landslide.