2 men swept away by floodwaters remain missing in Zamboanga del Sur

COTABATO CITY — Rescue teams are still struggling to locate two men who remain missing after they were swept away by rampaging floodwaters in separate incidents on Saturday, July 11, in the towns of Tukuran and Labangan in Zamboanga del Sur.

Local executives and municipal police officials identified the missing persons as Joel Ompoc, 24 and 23-year-old King Amir Montilla, residents of Barangay Baclay in Tukuran and Barangay Dalapang in Labangan, respectively. 

Radio reports on Monday, July 13, stated that Ompoc and Montillam remain the subject of extensive search operations in the two towns in Zamboanga del Sur as of noon Monday, with municipal emergency responders leading the efforts.

Ranking personnel of the Labangan Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and officials of the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Police Office separately told reporters that Montilla was last seen on Saturday,collecting dried branches of trees being swept downstream by floodwaters along a stretch of the Labangan River before he disappeared.

The Labangan River was overflowing at the time, following heavy rains since late Wednesday brought about by the Typhoon "Inday" (international name: “Bavi”), which began to pummel southern regions before dawn Thursday, July 9.

Local government rescue teams have also been searching since noon Saturday for Ompoc, who was last seen crossing a river in Barangay Baclay, Tukuran earlier the same day. 

Villagers had told rescuers from their local government unit that they had warned Ompoc against crossing the river on his way to a barangay near its opposite bank, but he ignored their warnings and persisted.

Ompoc was swept downstream by floodwaters and disappeared, according to witnesses. 

Barangays in Dinas, Zamboanga del Sur, were also inundated after rivers in the municipality swelled and overflowed due to heavy rains, local executives reported on Sunday, July 12. Villagers in the flooded barangays had been relocated to safe areas, according to officials of the Dinas Municipal Police Station and local government emergency responders.

In the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte in the Bangsamoro region, local executives and soldiers from units of the Army's 6th Infantry Division and the Police Regional Office 12 are attending to the needs of thousands of villagers who were relocated from flooded towns to evacuation centers, some of which are located in school campuses and public gymnasiums.

Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of 6th ID, said emergency responders from their units are using rubber boats and large military trucks to transport residents from flooded barangays to higher ground.

Cagara said soldiers and rescue teams from the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, led by its director, Brig. Gen. Christopher Abecia, are supporting the typhoon impact mitigation efforts of local government officials in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte.