Early afternoon, I had two visitors. Dr. Joey Dacudao, the neurosurgeon-president of the Save Our Languages Through Federalism (SOLFED), just arrived from Iloilo. He had with him his niece, Kim Paluay. And he excitedly told me how Kim vomited her lunch just as the Ocean Jet was approaching its berthing space at the BREDCO port.
That filled me with apprehensions. My plan was to proceed to Iloilo yesterday morning to comply with the invitation of former Rep. Emily Relucio-Lopez to attend her birthday bash with the school children of Iloilo’s second district and Guimaras province.
By late afternoon, more news poured in from outside Bacolod. And the shape was that of a major disaster.
Then I heard over the radio that the mayors of Valladolid and San Enrique in southern Negros had already declared a state of calamity in their respective constituencies.
But there were more ominous reports. Floods had hit the low-lying areas of Pontevedra, Hinigaran, and Binalbagan towns as well as those of the cities of Sipalay, Himamaylan and La Carlota. These are all in southern Negros.
Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon mobilized the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council and dispatched relief assistance to the stricken towns.
The contiguous towns of Valladolid and Pulupandan were the hardest-hit. Valladolid Mayor Ricardo Presbitero reported that 255 houses were damaged. Pulupandan Mayor Luis Mondia said 242 homes, mostly in coastal areas, were either destroyed or damaged.
San Enrique Mayor Jilson Tubillara also declared a state of calamity. The rains caused extensive damage to rice crops. Actually, he estimated as much as 37 percent were in the fruiting stage.
San Enrique and Valladolid, together with Bago City, form part of the provincial rice granary.
The Ayungon River overflowed its banks. This was due to the high tide and the onrushing floodwaters. The result: widespread damage to rice crops and vegetables.
Mayor Mondia also reported P450,000 damage to rice crops and vegetables in his town.
Then came a torrent of reports: the extensive destruction of crops and massive evacuation of residents in Hinigaran and Binalbagan towns and the cities of Himamaylan and La Carlota.
As of press time yesterday, 8,884 families, or a total of 43,347 people, had evacuated. Houses damaged reached 559, with 108 others destroyed.
In the case of Valladolid, Presbitero said huge waves blasted the shorelines of Palaka, Poblacion, Sagua Banua, Tabao Proper, Central Taao, and Bagumbayan.
Chest-high floods gripped 12 interior barangays, mostly those near rivers and irrigation canals. Presbitero placed the damage to houses at P1.65 million and to crops and others, P2.5 million. Gov. Marañon dispatched relief assistance in the form of rice, noodles and sardines. He said medicines will also be sent to the affected areas.
He also issued a call for local executives to clear clogged waterways and to strengthen dikes along shorelines.
Marañon expressed hope that the national government would allocate funds for local governments to clear waterways as it did in Luzon and Metro Manila.
Yesterday, the sun shined early in the morning. But based on satellite photos of the two typhoons, it seems that the rains will continue until today. We just hope that the downpour will ease so that Negrenses can pick up the pieces of their ruined homes and lives.
Meanwhile, the Visayan Daily STAR bureau manager from Dumaguete reported that four fishermen were rescued from the shark-infested waters of Siquijor province last Thursday.
But six others remained missing. They were all crewmembers of FBS Mary which was sailing back to Basay, Negros Oriental from Misamis Occidental when it developed engine trouble near Apo Island. Giant waves then hit the boat.
Local fishermen, according to Wilson Gubuan, Siquijor civil defense chief, identified the rescued fishermen as Joel Lapasaran, Jonny Anlap, Junash Alcantara, and Rommel Nosol. All are from Basay.
Lapasaran and Anlap, the latter a grandson of former Basay mayor Minda Anlap, were rescued by MV San Martin, a passenger vessel. They were turned over to the tugboat Andrea Friday afternoon.
The two other fishermen still missing were identified as Jay Totica and Domy Maganao.
The four others are reportedly drifting between Siquijor and Mindanao. They were identified as Oliver Yap and a certain Sanchez, Dandan, and Jomar.
So, the lesson learned from this latest event is that fishermen should never venture out when they are advised about adverse weather conditions. Worse, not when one’s radio is damaged.
It now seems that the weather can changed unexpectedly, indicating the possibility that we are now witnessing climate change.
Armed with a search warrant issued by Municipal Judge Napoleon Diamante, the police swooped down on the residence of kagawad Norberto Garde, alias Norbing, 47. The police also picked up two companions of Garde in his rented cockfarm in Barangay 2.
Picked up by the police were Garde’s son-in-law Joan Alarcon, and the caretaker of the cockfarm, Darius Danay, 31.
The cockfarm was owned by former drug lord Jose Kim Cuadra, who was recently sentenced to a long prison term following a lengthy court case which resulted from his arrest at the Caticlan Airport in Aklan for possession of shabu.
Because he was close to Cuadra, police operatives had tagged Garde as No. 2 in the order of battle of the BCPO. Garde was dubbed by the police as the bodyguard and sidekick of Cuadra.
Police also recovered from him a caliber .38 revolver with six bullets, two expired firearm licenses and shabu paraphernalia.
ADDENDUM. Kudos to the San Carlos police for picking up for questioning a Camarines Sur resident of Talisay City who was allegedly peddling "heads of statues" in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental. The suspect, Cesar Noblesala, 45, was reportedly offering to sell the ivory head of a holy icon for P120,000. He pointed to a certain Joseph of Bacolod as the one who had asked him to sell the ivory head. Police are still investigating Noblesala in connection with the thefts of several holy images in several churches in the province.