NEW YORK—As Typhoon Santi crossed the Philippines bringing heavy rains and strong winds, causing power outages and communication breakdown and raising the threat of renewed floods, United Nations aid agencies increased assistance to the country that was battered by successive storms.

The Philippines is still struggling to recover from the damage caused by back-to-back typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng that killed 929 and displaced hundreds of thousands, and yet the recent typhoon on Saturday forced the evacuation of more than 115,000 people, the World Food Program (WFP) said.

Widespread damage has also been reported to rice paddies and other farmland, and also to homes and basic infrastructure. Crop damage in recent typhoons was estimated at over $160 million. Typhoon Santi is the fourth major tropical storm or typhoon to strike the Southeast Asian region in less than five weeks, and the Philippines has been the worst-affected country.

FOUR people were reported missing since Sunday in the waters off Aurora province, as some parts of the country experienced continued rains owing to the effects of the northeast monsoon and the easterly wave.

Senior Supt. Romulo Esteban, Aurora police commander, said search-and-rescue teams are still scouring the waters off Aurora for Ferdinand Basbas, 40; his two sons, Michael Patrick, 20, and Norwin, 17; and Reynell Ritual, 16.

Esteban said the four, who are residents of barangay Sabang, Baler, went fishing on November 1, but have not returned since.

He said Navy and Air Force assets have been tapped for the ongoing search-and-rescue operations.

Meanwhile, the continued downpour, which was brought by the northeast monsoon that has affected Metro Manila and Regions 1, 2 and 3, and the Cordillera Administrative Region, has triggered flooding in several provinces.

THE government of the United States has decided to withhold $2 million worth of military aid to the Philippines in 2009, allegedly owing to the human-rights abuses previously raised by groups and churches in the US.

This was revealed on Thursday by Party-list Rep. Neri Javier Colmenares of Bayan Muna after meeting with US State Department officials.

Colmenares said the officials confirmed to him that the amount has, in fact, been withheld.

He said the State Department officials, whose responsibility includes US policy toward the Philippines, admitted that they were unable to report to the US Congress that the Philippine government had met the human-rights conditions required for the release of the military aid.

As a result, the final $2 million in military assistance appropriated by the US Congress for the Philippine government has not been released.