DAGUPAN CITY—After clearing and blasting away debris, the government on Tuesday opened Marcos Highway and Naguilian Road to motorists to normalize the transport of goods to and from Baguio City.
Marcos Highway was opened at 7 a.m., said Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. in an interview at Dagupan West Central School here, where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presided over a meeting of her Cabinet. “But of course, there are portions where only one lane is passable.”
At 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) blasted boulders that blocked portions of Naguilian Road (Quirino Highway) near the border of the provinces of Benguet and La Union on the way to the mountain resort, officials said.
Another route to Baguio— Kennon Road—was reopened at midnight Sunday, but still on a limited scale, with outbound traffic allowed from 6 a.m. to noon, and inbound vehicles from noon to 6 p.m.
“This could be normalized in a week’s time,” Ebdane said.
Tropical Strom “Pepeng” (international codename: Parma) pummeled northern Luzon for over a week, triggering heavy flooding and landslides and isolating Baguio, Benguet and other areas of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
Road to Burgos
The Office of Civil Defense said the death toll from Pepeng reached 259 as of Tuesday, including 146 who perished in landslides that hit the communities of Little Kibungan and Buyagan in La Trinidad and other Benguet towns.
During the meeting of the Cabinet and National Disaster Coordinating Council at the public school, Ms Arroyo also ordered the clearing within three days of Halsema Highway, which connects Baguio with the Mountain Province and the rest of the provinces in the CAR.
“Kennon Road is already open. We have to open Halsema Highway so that northern Benguet, Mountain Province are accessible,” she said. “I think there’s a town in La Union, Burgos? It’s isolated. So we have to clear the road to Burgos.”
Forced evacuation
Ms Arroyo also reminded the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council to implement “forced evacuation” in flooded areas in view of the rising cases of water-borne diseases.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque reported that government hospitals were “full of cases of leptospirosis,” a water-borne disease that can cause death.
“Leptospirosis is the main challenge to us. In the last two weeks, it rose by 175 percent, and our hospitals are full of leptospirosis cases,” he said.
In communities and evacuation centers, 50 percent of the recorded ailments had to do with acute respiratory tract infection; 20 percent, skin infection; 18 percent, diarrhea; 10 percent febrile illness, and influenza-like illness, 1 percent, he said.
After the relief operations, Ms Arroyo said that police should be deployed to subdivisions to watch over homes of calamity victims.
“The people don’t want to leave their endangered homes because they’re afraid of looters. You have to have police guarding communities. They might be better used to guarding the community so the people can leave. We have so many volunteers. We need police to guard houses,” she said.
Choppers to be used
In La Trinidad, Benguet, Trade Secretary Peter Favila said the government was giving priority to the delivery of goods and basic needs to the Cordillera area to avoid food shortages. He said Philippine Air Force helicopters will be used to ferry supplies to isolated towns. US Chinook helicopters were also on stand by to assist.
“Our top priority now is to bring food and supplies here the soonest should Halsema Highway remain closed,” Favila told the Inquirer.
Favila accompanied Ms Arroyo at Puguis Elementary School here where she condoled with the families of victims of a landslide that buried Little Kibungan, a community in Barangay Puguis.
Ms Arroyo gave P10,000 each to 26 families as financial assistance.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development said a total of P500,000 was donated. She also led the distribution of 804 packs of blanket, 500 food packs and 170 water jugs to storm victims. With reports from Delmar Cariño, Vincent Cabreza and Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon
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