By Aaron Recuenco Rescuers are holding on even to faintest ray of hope to get survivors from the tons of mud and rock that buried almost a hundred small-scale miners in a bunkhouse in Itogon town of Benguet at the height of typhoon ‘Ompong’ onslaught over the weekend. Rescuers carry a body bag containing a landslide victim, triggered by heavy rains during Typhoon Mangkhut, in Itogon, Benguet province on September 18, 2018.
(AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE / MANILA BULLETIN) As of Tuesday afternoon, Itogon Mayor Victor Palangdan said 59 people were still missing, while 15 cadavers were recovered since rescue teams started their mission. “According to rescuers, they believe that sana may buhay pa, kaya they are inspired to continue to search and rescue operations,” said Palangdan. That positive mentality, according to national police spokesman Senior Supt. Benigno Durana, Jr., is where police rescue teams are drawing their strength to go on with the diggings despite difficulties. Aside from the local police, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has inserted at least 24 commandos of its elite Special Action Force (SAF) to help in the search and rescue missions. The SAF commandos are equipped with gadgets that help monitor and locate people buried in collapsed structures. “According to our Chief PNP (Director General Oscar Albayalde), we will not lose hope and with our prayers, we will not stop until the last of our fellow Filipino will be accounted for,” Durana said. Durana acknowledged that the possibility of finding survivors is getting thinner every day, with reality on the ground. “We are still hoping against hope that we would be able to recover survivors. We are not sure but miracles can still happen nowadays,” he added. Quoting feedback from the ground, Durana said the morale of the rescuers on the ground is high as all of them are still optimistic of stumbling upon living miners. The bunkhouse Before “Ompong” hit Northern Luzon over the weekend, Palangdan said they enforced a mandatory evacuation in all the landslide-prone areas, including Barangay Ucab where the miners were buried alive. But the miners reportedly refused and even struggling with the policemen who were sent to get them out of the area, according to Palangdan. “We did our best to do the procedure of the incident command system... we tried to enforce the forced evacuation but pumalag po sila,” said Palangdan. The official said they were left with no option but to respect the decision of the miners to stay. The bunkhouse where the miners sought refuge, Palangdan said, is as big as half of a basketball court. Local exec’s liability Durana said the PNP is ready to undertake investigation to determine the possible liability of local officials who failed to implement the disaster and risk reduction management protocol. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), he said, is conducting investigation as to why there were big fatalities in some areas considering that enough warnings and advice were given before the landfall of “Ompong.” “According to the DILG, that area is a hazard area and if there are situations like this (typhoon), preemptive evacuation is necessary,” said Durana. “We have not yet received any order from the DILG to conduct investigation but if the DILG wants us to be involved, definitely we will do it,” he added.ORIo it,” he added.