TYPHOON Egay killed three people and affected thousands of families, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported on Sunday.

NDCC spokesman Anthony Golez said that the continuous downpour precipitated by the southwest monsoon caused severe flooding in several areas of Metro Manila, the Cordillera region, Ilocos region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) and Mimaropa (Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan).

Golez, who is also the officer in charge of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), said that heavy floodings affected a total of 113, 569 families, or 542, 371 persons, in 380 barangay in 15 cities and 40 towns in 12 provinces.

Golez reported that rising floodwaters drowned Willie dela Cruz and Jesus Rebong, both of barangay San Roque, Victoria, Laguna, and 15-year-old Erickson Claro of Las Piñas City.

An unidentified person from Maragondon, Cavite, is also still missing after his banca capsized at the height of the heavy rains on Saturday, while Eleno Estrada, who is from barangay Nangalisan in Bacnotan, La Union, was injured after he was hit by a falling tree.

The NDCC said that 98 houses were damaged, 43 of which were totally demolished by the strong winds.

It said that out of the 113, 569 total families affected in six regions, a total of 793 families are still being housed in 29 evacuation centers and are being served by the OCD and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Golez also reported that the heavy rains and massive floodings damaged more than P20 million worth of agriculture and fishery products and infrastructure projects, and cut several roads such as the Bontoc-Kalinga and Baguio-Bontoc highways.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno mobilized on Sunday the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to regularly monitor disaster-relief and assistance efforts for farmers and other residents in rural communities hit by calamities. 

In compliance with an order from President Arroyo, Puno named Undersecretary for Peace and Order Melchor Rosales as head of the department-level task force that will  closely monitor and regularly publicize the efforts of the national government and the local governments in providing aid to rural folk hit by the dry spell and heavy rains caused by typhoons.

Rosales used to be the executive director of the NDCC.

Puno issued the directive following the President’s order for the interior secretary “to lead the watch over disaster efforts, assisted by NDCC.”

“External Cabinet-level oversight is needed on disaster relief and rural assistance programs,” the President said in her memorandum addressed to the interior and defense secretaries.

The President said she had designated Puno to spearhead the monitoring of disaster-relief initiatives for rural communities because Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who is also the NDCC chair, is currently preoccupied with the military operations in Basilan and Sulu.

Puno said that on orders of the President, the DILG, with the assistance of the NDCC,  will also regularly publicize disaster-relief efforts at both the national and local government levels, “with the help of the Philippine Information Agency and other allied media outlets.”

He added that the National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection would also closely coordinate with the public works and agriculture departments to ensure the smooth and efficient delivery of disaster-relief and rural assistance programs to local governments.

THE military started attacking three positions of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan province on Sunday, a day after the bandits and soldiers figured in a daylong close-quarters battle that led to the death of 15 Marines and more than 40 Abu Sayyaf members.

TYPHOON Egay killed three people and affected thousands of families, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported on Sunday.

THE government stands to lose, initially, over P16 billion in waived import tax revenue under the proposed Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) that Malacañang has asked the Senate to ratify.

THE opening of the mothballed Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (Naia 3) would be hastened in the wake of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes’ (Icsid) decision to junk the complaint filed by German port operator Fraport AG against the government, a senior airport official said.

THE flashfloods that paralyzed Metro Manila last week should serve as a stern warning against litterbugs who continue to indiscriminately dump garbage, a waste and pollution watchdog said yesterday.

THE Supreme Court (SC), voting 15-0, has issued a ruling stopping the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from implementing an executive order which authorizes the agency to shut down provincial bus terminals and major thoroughfares of Metro Manila as part of the government’s campaign to ease traffic congestion.