VIRAC, Catanduanes—Continuous heavy rains resulted in massive landslides that have isolated six of the 11 towns of this island province for the past seven days now.

Residents are crying for help as a food shortage threatens the area. The assistance provided by local governments is not enough to sustain the people’s needs as boats, which are the only alternative transportation in the area, cannot travel because of rough seas.

On Saturday five persons died when their house in a village in Baras town was buried by a landslide.

Public Works District Engineer Ignacio Odiaman said on Thursday there have been more than 100 landslides in the past days. The worst landslide was in barangay Balombong, some 20 kilometers from San Miguel town.

Odiaman said that in the Balombong landslide, rocks and boulders, “some as big as a house,” buried some areas in the towns of San Miguel, Viga, Panganiban and Bagamanok. The landslides also affected the towns of Caramoran and Pandan, Odiaman said.

He estimated the damage at some P80 million.

Caramoran Mayor Agnes Popa has appealed for food supplies, saying residents in villages are in a pathetic situation.

Catanduanes residents blamed the continuous cutting of trees for the landslides and floods. They also blamed the public works department, which road-widening projects allegedly caused some of the landslides.

The Catanduanes circumferential road has been under construction for the past six years.

Odiaman said that so far, only the towns of Baras, Gigmoto, Bato and San Andres can be reached from this capital town.

He said that if the weather permits, vehicular traffic may be restored by Saturday, saying that public works crews are on duty round-the-clock to clear portions of roads buried by landslides.

Aside from being isolated, many villages in the province still do not have electricity and communication.

FORMER President Fidel Ramos should first “come clean” on the allegedly anomalous multibillion-peso independent power producers (IPP) contracts, the Public Estates Authority (PEA)-Amari deal and other scams allegedly perpetrated during the Ramos administration before lambasting the Palace pardon for former President Joseph Estrada, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said yesterday.

“LOOK who’s talking.”

This was the reaction of Ed Malay, media adviser of former President Fidel Ramos, to the statements made by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada who called the former President “supreme hypocrite” and linked Ramos to alleged irregularities in administration.

RECRUITERS of Filipinos to Japan are tying that country’s immigration law to the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) currently under negotiation, believing that the former is the key for the country to benefit from Jpepa.

VIRAC, Catanduanes—Continuous heavy rains resulted in massive landslides that have isolated six of the 11 towns of this island province for the past seven days now.

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) remains uncertain on what caused the alleged fishkill in the waters off Rapu-Rapu Island, Albay, but has ruled out the possibility that it was caused by a chemical spill from the mines operating in the island.

THE 26 enlisted men who were discharged from the military service last week owing to their alleged involvement in the February 2006 foiled coup attempt will ask the Army to reinstate them.