With odd climate, experts suggest altering lifestyles

MANILA, Philippines—Seeds are sown during the rainy season, then yield a bounty three months later. Classes start in June and students look forward to a hot summer break come March. Sweaters go on sale as Christmastime nears, then are tucked away in the closet for most of the year.

Imagine a world where all these predictable cycles no longer apply.

With extreme weather conditions now baffling scientists and posing a challenge to policy makers, it’s probably time to reexamine traditional notions about the country’s weather patterns—and ultimately, their influence on the Filipinos’ way of life.

A government scientist on Monday broached the idea as Malacañang called for a “multi-stakeholder” convention to be held later this month to come up with an effective, consolidated response to natural calamities.

“Climate uncertainty is now more of the rule rather than the exception,” said Undersecretary Graciano Yumul of the Department of Science and Technology.

According to Yumul, convention participants—who will include representatives of local and international nongovernment organizations—would be expected to share “radical” ideas addressing concerns like coastal management, food security, health, infrastructure, work schedules and school calendars.

Lessons no longer applicable

It’s probably time to rewrite school textbooks and update content dealing with the climate and the weather with discussions on global warming, Yumul added.

“What we used to teach before is not necessarily applicable now,” said the official, who also teaches at the University of the Philippines.

Yumul said local governments, backed by the national government, should come up with their respective measures to cushion the impact of climate change.

“The (current) El Niño event in the Philippines is supposed to be dry,” Yumul noted, referring to the weather phenomenon that is known to cause droughts in Southeast Asia. “But we are very, very wet.”

APEC outlook

He cited the “seasonal outlook” issued by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Climate Center that projected “below normal rainfall in the Philippines and Sumatra and eastern Indonesian islands abutting Papua New Guinea” from October to December.
But this month alone, Yumul noted, the Philippines was devastated by two major weather disturbances, which dumped some 675 millimeters of rainwater on northern Luzon last weekend.

“Ondoy and Pepeng are basically abnormalities,” he said. “Although some people would not be taking this seriously, this, we think, would actually be evidence related to global warming.”

Also on Monday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called for a meeting of the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council on Thursday “to discuss the causes, costs, and action to be taken in the wake of disasters brought by (killer storms) Ondoy and Pepeng.”

“The President is open to all constructive proposals to effectively address our problems collectively as a nation,” said Press Secretary Cerge Remonde.

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Irish missionary abducted in Pagadian

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The kindly priest had just had dinner and was strolling on the lawn of the convent when armed men burst in, demanding to see him.

Before anyone in the religious compound could do anything, the intruders had seized Irish missionary Michael Sinnott, hustled him into a van and fled on a boat in the latest attack on a foreign missionary in Mindanao.

The apparently well-planned kidnapping took place in the compound of the Missionary Society of St. Columban in Pagadian City at around 7 p.m. Sunday, police said.

As of Monday afternoon, authorities said they still had no firm clues as to who were responsible.

Policemen gave chase but failed to catch up with the armed group. Instead, they found the kidnappers’ getaway van on fire.

“The reason, probably, for burning the vehicle was to distract our law enforcers who were pursuing them,” Chief Supt. Angelo Sunglao, police chief for Western Mindanao, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Possible angles

Based on a police assessment, the kidnapping had the trademark of a Cotabato-based kidnap for ransom gang “because they burned the getaway vehicle,” Sunglao said.

But Sunglao said the police were not discounting other possibilities. “It can be the Abu Sayyaf, it can be other hired kidnappers or for political reasons,” he said.

Pagadian Mayor Samuel Co said that aside from kidnap gangs, the abduction “could also be a way for fund raising, you know election is near.”

The 79-year old priest was having a walk around the convent—a routine for him after he underwent heart surgery four years ago—when the gunmen struck, fellow Columban missionary Fr. Sean Martin said in Ozamiz City.

A convent employee was about to lock the compound’s gate, which is some 20 meters from the house, when two men insisted on coming in to “talk to Father Mick,” as Sinnott is popularly known.

From the lawn, the men took Sinnott to their vehicle. Some police reports said two gunmen were involved, while others said there were six men.

Ransom a factor?

Martin said the motive was unclear. “His being a foreigner might be a factor, thinking they might be able to make money out of bargaining for his freedom,” he said.

Police said the abductors brought Sinnott to the coastal village of Sta. Lucia on a motorized outrigger boat.

Malacañang and Church leaders condemned the attack.

At a press conference, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s deputy spokesperson Anthony Golez said “we abhor that kind of crime.”

Golez reaffirmed the government’s no-ransom policy in dealing with kidnappers.

The military and the police have launched pursuit and intelligence operations.

Reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo said the kidnappers headed for the neighboring Tukuran town after taking Sinnott on a boat.

“The only thing we can do right now is intelligence gathering so we can later launch a rescue operation,” Armed Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Brawner Jr. told reporters.

Maj. Gen. Romeo Lustestica, 1st Infantry Division commander, said that as of Sunday night, government troops manning checkpoints had been alerted and seaborne patrols deployed. “But so far, there have been no sightings,” he said.

“Hopefully, they will already send their feelers,” he said, adding that the group was possibly planning to demand ransom.

PNP units alerted

The Philippine National Police said that its units in Western Mindanao also launched a region-wide operation to track down the kidnappers.

While wary about pinpointing any specific group, the military raised the possibility that they might be linked to the armed men who seized Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi in 2007.

The Zamboanga Peninsula is a known lair of the Abu Sayyaf bandits and rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Several Catholic bishops appealed for Sinnott’s immediate release.

“Fr. Michael Sinnott is a man of peace. The priests, religious and lay people of the Diocese of Pagadian are deeply saddened by his forcible abduction,” Pagadian Bishop Emmanuel Cabajar said over Radio Veritas.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said: “Let us respect the people who do God’s work.”

MILF helping

The MILF said it had mobilized its men to help Philippine security forces in the search for Sinnott.

Eid Kabalu, spokesperson for the MILF, told the Inquirer by phone that members of their ceasefire committee had coordinated with the military about their moves.

Kabalu said Abu Sayyaf men could be involved based on the location where Sinnott was taken.

It was the third case of abduction involving foreign missionaries in the last nine years.

In June 2007, Fr. Bossi was taken at gunpoint on his way to celebrate Mass in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay. He was released after 33 days in captivity.

In 2001, Pentagon Gang kidnappers abducted Italian priest Guissepe Pierrantoni, while he was officiating a Mass in Dimatali town, Zamboanga del Sur. He was released on April 8, 2002, after six months in captivity. With reports from Ed General, Richel V. Umel, Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao; Ceres Doyo, Jocelyn Uy, Christian V. Esguerra, Leila B. Salaverria, Dona Pazzibugan and Jerome Aning in Manila

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Execs caught unprepared for disaster

LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET—As nature’s fury was unleashed through massive landslides in Benguet and widespread flooding in Pangasinan on Thursday and Friday, local government officials were shocked by the extent of the devastation in their areas.

As the weather started to improve on Saturday, many local officials said the disaster had caught them unprepared.

Benguet provincial officials were everywhere during and after the onslaught of “Pepeng” (international codename: Parma) as a tropical depression—giving assistance to victims and leading rescue operations—but they acknowledged they were ill-prepared for the extent of the damage.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said it would need over a billion pesos to repair and rebuild roads and bridges damaged by Pepeng and Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana).

Initial reports from regional DPWH offices showed that the agency would need about P1.43 billion to repair the damaged and destroyed infrastructure in Luzon, according to Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.

Ebdane said roads connecting Pangasinan and La Union provinces would be repaired first.

Many regional roads and infrastructure were destroyed by the storms or were covered by landslides, making travel difficult.

Caught with pants down

Local officials said that what caught them with their pants down were the suddenness and intensity of the rains that triggered landslides.

Worse, they said, the province’s terrain hampered rescue efforts.

Members of rescue and disaster response teams said they did not lack training for disaster management.

But like local officials, they said they lacked equipment—from ropes and shovels to rubber boats and bulldozers.

Gov. Nestor Fongwan said the province suffered its worse damage in years just because of lack of equipment.

“I am sorry to say it but we were really unprepared,” he told the Inquirer.

Benguet has two loaders and a backhoe, but when landslides struck Halsema Highway and other roads at the same time, the equipment were not enough, said Aning Binay-an, a provincial engineer.

Mayors Murphy Mackay (Bokod), Florencio Bentres (Tuba) and Robert Canuto (Kapangan) activated their towns’ disaster councils.

Shovels, pick axes

But disaster response teams had to make do with their own shovels and pick axes to clear blocked roads.

Calls for loader and backhoe services swamped the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) at the provincial capitol here, but Fongwan told the callers to be patient as the province’s loaders were being used in more crucial areas.

Good for La Trinidad Mayor Artemio Galwan, the town hall had in its stockroom an imported rubber boat that was earlier donated to the town.

The boat’s importance was never realized until Sitio Toyong in Barangay Pico was flooded last week, which required transporting stranded families.

Eveleyn Bayote, Barangay Puguis chair, said village officials were on top of the retrieval operations at Little Kibungan.

109 bodies recovered

As of Monday, rescue teams digging through mud, rocks and debris that swamped the mountainside community on Thursday night recovered 109 bodies.

Robert Namuro, Barangay Buyagan chair, said the residents were willing to help local officials in retrieving the bodies of 19 villagers who died when landslides buried four houses in his village also on Thursday.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is considering a vacant lot owned by Benguet State University in Barangay Balili as relocation site for families displaced by the massive slide in Barangay Puguis.

Little Kibungan was assessed in 2005 as a high-hazard site and families there were recommended to be relocated, the DENR said. The residents, however, ignored the warnings and decided to stay.

New houses were even built in the area, the DENR said.

In Pangasinan province, when reports that Pepeng would return to the country, Dagupan City started preparing for the worst.

Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. asked the City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC) to pool and prepare equipment and stocks of relief goods that would be needed in a worst-case scenario.

“But we never expected that this water would be this high,” said city administrator Alvin Fernandez.

As high as 10 feet

Almost the entire city was under water, with some sections experiencing flood as high as 10 feet. But preparation helped in preventing loss of lives and property, Fernandez said.

The city tried to cope amid the lack of water supply in many areas as most pumping stations failed to function during the floods.

In Rosales town, Mayor Ricardo Revita said he went around the town on Thursday morning carrying a megaphone to ask residents in villages along the Agno River to leave.

He again set out at 2 p.m. that day to reiterate the warning. “We even distributed relief packs to those we knew would be affected, for them to bring to the evacuation centers. But after getting their packs, they returned to their houses,” he said.

Bued Bridge

Betty Sumait, assistant director of the Bureau of Maintenance, said the Bued Bridge in Pangasinan, which is part of the national highway that links Pangasinan to La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, remained impassable to vehicles after it collapsed due to the strong current of the Bued River.

In Nueva Ecija, Gov. Aurelio Umali said the province could take care of its rescue and relief operations.

Umali said the provincial government had sent rubber boats to save residents marooned by rising floodwater.

At the height of flooding in the province last week, he said the provincial government’s mobile kitchen was tapped to serve food in evacuation centers.

What local officials and farmers did not anticipate, Umali said, was the unprecedented flooding of more than 50,000 hectares of rice land in the province.

In Ilocos Norte province, Laoag City Mayor Michael Fariñas has ordered local agencies to speed up the rehabilitation of damaged structures like street and traffic lights, school buildings and houses.

“I want to see those lights up before October ends,” Fariñas said Monday.

He said residents whose houses were destroyed could avail themselves of the city’s core-shelter program under the Gawad Kalinga project.

Duplexes

The city government hopes to build duplexes for Pepeng victims although the project was intended as a low-cost housing program for city residents.

The city social welfare and development office said 29 families whose houses were destroyed could be relocated to the GK housing site.

In Ilocos Sur, what saved residents were awareness and their compliance with orders from local officials to seek safe grounds.

Gov. Deogracias Victor Savellano said the province, which recorded only one typhoon-related fatality, was spared from devastation because residents were aware of the incoming storm and they were able to prepare.

Pepeng was classified as a typhoon when it first made landfall on Oct. 3. Lingering in the country for days, it made two more landfalls as a storm and subsequently a tropical depression.

Singson family’s chopper

Former Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson and his son, Ilocos Sur Rep. Ronald Singson, used the family’s helicopter to bring help to isolated areas, like the five villages of Santa town.

In Candon City, emergency response teams composed of city employees, policemen, firemen, barangay officials and volunteers were tapped to evacuate residents. Reports from Delmar Cariño, Frank Cimatu, Yolanda Sotelo, Cristina Arzadon and Leoncio Balbin Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon; Anselmo Roque, Inquirer Central Luzon; and Kristine L. Alave in Manila

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Dam managers face raps San Roque spill blamed for floods

MANILA, Philippines—Water equivalent to a billion balikbayan boxes tumbling at the rate of 5,000 cartons per second hit 10 hapless towns in Pangasinan province on Thursday when the San Roque dam spillways were opened amid a storm drenching and swirling floodwaters, scientists say.

Now, administrators of the dam owned by National Power Corp. (Napocor) and operated by the San Roque Multipurpose Project (SRMP) are going to be clobbered with various criminal and civil suits being prepared by irate residents and provincial officials.

Gov. Amado Espino Jr. on Monday said the provincial government was haling San Roque officials to court for the widespread destruction that last week’s flooding worsened with the opening of the spillways.

“I have asked our lawyers to prepare a suit,” Espino said.

For people to visualize how much water was released from the dam, Catherine Abon, a geologist from the University of the Philippines and member of Agham, an organization of local scientists, said that one cubic meter of water was much like one balikbayan box.

The San Roque Dam in San Manuel town releases an average of 83.6 cubic meter per second, she said.

When dam officials finally decided to open the spillway gates of the reservoir before the water level reached the critical level, they practically increased the average flow by “more than tenfold,” Abon said.

“Based on our computation, it was unbelievable that with 5,000 cubic meters released per second, it was like having a billion balikbayan boxes dumped on Pangasinan in a day,” said Agham chair Giovanni Tapang, who is also with the University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Physics.

A balikbayan box measures two feet by two feet. If it is shipped, freight cost is based on size. If airfreight, it is weighed.

In a press conference organized by the leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Tapang wondered why the state weather bureau increased the spilling level of San Roque Dam from 280 meters to 288 meters.

“Before, at 280 meters, the San Roque Dam would already release water. Why did they have to wait for 288 meters [during Tropical Storm ‘Pepeng’]?” Tapang said.

Tapang also questioned the seemingly delayed release of water from the dam.

“As early as Oct. 4, there was already a huge spike in water levels in the dam. Why did they release water only on Oct. 7, 8 and 9? Did they just want to gather enough water for its power generation?” Tapang said.

No warning

The towns of San Manuel, San Nicolas, Tayug, Sta. Maria, Asingan, Villasis, Alcala, Bautista, Rosales and Bayambang went under in the torrent from the dam that aggravated flooding as a result of five days of rains brought by Pepeng (international name: Parma).

Pepeng slammed across northern Luzon on Oct. 3 with the force of a typhoon. It tarried over the area as a storm and later as a depression until Oct. 10 when it swept out into the South China Sea.

Provincial officials and residents claimed that they were not warned that the dam’s gates would be opened, resulting in deaths and multimillion-peso damage to property and agricultural crops.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said that as of 10 a.m. Monday, the San Roque Dam and the Magat Dam in Isabela still had one spillway gate open.

Both the Ambuklao Dam and Binga Dam in Benguet each have two gates open.

Tapang said that as early as 1998, there had already been local and international protests against the construction of the San Roque Multipurpose Dam but the project still went ahead and was completed in March 2003.

Since then, local communities experienced flooding whenever a storm struck and the dam’s gates opened, he said.

Destructive gov’t projects

“In addition to lack of disaster preparedness, the Arroyo government still pursues policies and destructive projects such as large-scale mining and large dams that destroy our environment and make communities more vulnerable and at higher risk to floods, landslides and other disasters,” said Clemente Bautista Jr. of the environment group Kalikasan.

San Roque Dam officials have remained mum on the planned class suit against their company in spite of the Inquirer’s repeated request for comment.

Former Court of Appeals Associate Justice Teodoro Regino, a resident of Dagupan City, said he would lead the filing of a class suit against NPC and SRMP.

In 1998, Regino sued NPC for the massive flooding in Pangasinan due to the excess water released from the Binga and Ambuklao dams in Benguet. The case is now pending at a Regional Trial Court in Dagupan.

Rosales Mayor Ricardo Revita, whose town was one of the worst hit, said he was also considering suing the dam officials for lapses in decision making and lack of foresight.

New SM mall swamped

Rosales’ business district, where a newly opened SM mall is located, was swamped by floods that reached at least five feet.

Farmers and business groups said they would file a separate damage suit against the SRMP after floods destroyed their properties.

“There’s too much devastation. It could run to hundreds of millions,” said Rosendo So, president of the Eastern Pangasinan Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Anong Manalo, president of the Region 1 Confederation of Irrigators’ Associations, said several thousands of hectares of rice land were flooded in Rosales, Villasis, Tayug and other eastern Pangasinan towns, destroying crops and killing farm animals.

“The floodwaters deprived our farmers a source of their livelihood,” he said.

Pangasinan Rep. Victor Agbayani, a former governor, said dam officials should explain to the people of Pangasinan the apparent suddenness of the water release.

“Believe it or not, if the San Roque Dam was not built, and there is no dam to hold the rainwater from the mountains, the floodwater could have easily been twice as much in volume and destruction,” he said.

No calibrated release

Former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said dam officials should be answerable to the “indiscriminate” release of water. “That should be investigated. There should have been a calibrated release.”

Sen. Francis Escudero, a presidential aspirant who visited Pangasinan over the weekend, said he was helping the local officials pursue a court action for damages.

“This is a class suit,” he told reporters. “So far, there are just a few names there.”

Undersecretary Graciano Yumul of the Department of Science and Technology attributed the flooding to the unprecedented 675 millimeters of rain brought by Pepeng.

“So that, basically, would explain why northern Luzon was inundated,” he said in a press briefing in Malacañang. “With or without the opening of the dam, there (still) would (have been) flooding in northern Luzon.” With reports from Christian V. Esguerra; Yolanda Sotelo and Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

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Food, gas finally reach Baguio

BAGUIO CITY—Dressed chicken, pork and containers of gasoline were strapped to a pulley Monday so they could be taken over a 60-meter breach on Marcos Highway and ease food and fuel shortages in this city isolated for days by flooding and landslides.

Since Saturday, traders have been working to resupply Baguio with goods from Metro Manila after landslides triggered by Tropical Storm “Pepeng” (international codename: Parma) blocked the three main access roads to the city—Marcos Highway, Naguilian Road and Kennon Road.

Government officials had wanted to beef up the city’s food supplies, but the enterprising residents of Tuba, Benguet, moved earlier, setting up the pulley system to haul meat and fish from Pangasinan and La Union and containers of gasoline strapped to a long cable.

Engineers and volunteer workers opened a lane of Kennon Road on Sunday afternoon, a day earlier than the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had promised President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The city government then asked supply trucks to queue on the road at midnight because of anticipated heavy traffic from motorists leaving the city and residents reentering Baguio, said city administrator Peter Fianza.

Commuter vans were allowed to travel down Kennon on Sunday night, but local officials imposed a traffic schedule that restricted the road to outbound motorists from
5 a.m. to noon. Motorists going to Baguio were allowed only from noon to 5 p.m.

SM City Baguio on Monday restocked its supermarket with the arrival of supplies of meat, fruit, canned goods, instant noodles and rice from Metro Manila, a mall official said.

Victor Calimlim, a spokesperson for a group of market vendors, said food would not be a problem for Baguio in the next three weeks.

Calimlim said he was also talking with vegetable traders and farmers in La Trinidad town in Benguet province, whose initial harvest had been stocked at the vegetable trading post there.

Most stocks had been bought and were due for delivery to Metro Manila markets when the roads were closed.

“Instead of letting them rot, we asked that they be sold here instead to supplement the supplies,” Calimlim said.

Prices depend on gas supply

It is gasoline that could affect the prices of Baguio goods in the next few days, he said.

On Monday, many residents walked to work after gasoline stations shut down due to lack of supply, forcing passenger vehicles off the streets.

It may take weeks to repair Marcos Highway and Naguilian Road, but the city government will not stop people from hiking through dangerous road cuts and mounds of mud, rocks and debris to leave the city, he said.

“We did send people to regulate the hikers, so there is some order in crossing Marcos Highway,” Fianza said. People there crossed in batches of 20.

In Benguet, the four major vegetable producing towns in the province were facing a shortage of basic commodities, raising fears of panic among residents if roads leading to Baguio remained closed.

Residents of Atok, Buguias, Kibungan and Mankayan were complaining of the lack of sugar, cooking oil, rice, meat and poultry products, according to officials who said they were praying that Halsema Highway would be opened soon to avert any food shortage.

Gov. Nestor Fongwan said the two mudslides had made 15 kilometers of the Halsema Highway impassable.

Choppers airlift supplies

Two Huey helicopters Monday started delivering food and medical supplies to Buguias and Atok towns, as vehicles could not penetrate villages there since Friday due to landslides that blocked roads.

The choppers were also bringing cadaver bags and embalming fluids to Buguias where landslides killed eight people, Fongwan said.

At least 189 people died in landslides and other typhoon-related incidents in Benguet, according to the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.

The nationwide death toll from landslides and flooding stood at more than 600 in back-to-back storms that started pounding northern Luzon on Sept. 26, according to the Associated Press.

The death toll was so high that some areas ran out of coffins. More than 200 wooden caskets assembled in neighboring provinces were expected in Baguio, where more funerals were planned, said regional disaster director Olive Luces.

Baguio organized a burial for a family of eight, including six children, whose house along the Marcos Highway was pinned down by other houses that tumbled down a mountainside late Thursday.

“I am saddened by what happened,” said Mildred Ligos, a cousin of Leonora Pinol Picar, who died with her husband and their children aged 1 to 11.

She said she hadn’t seen her cousin in years because they lived in different areas. “And then we met again only now.”

On Monday, President Arroyo distributed relief goods to flood victims in Macabebe and Masantol towns in her 35th visit to her home-province of Pampanga. She was expected to visit more villages affected by the flooding there on Tuesday and Wednesday. With reports from Vincent Cabreza, Delmar Cariño, Frank Cimatu, Gabriel Cardinoza, Cristina Arzadon and Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon; and Charlene Cayabyab, Inquirer Central Luzon; and Associated Press

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