Flood of Philippine Stories

"Flood kills hundreds in Philippines; Tropical storm waters ravage region in south" December 18, 2011|By Oliver Teves, Associated Press

MANILA - Flash floods swept through a southern Philippines region unaccustomed to serious storms, killing more than 400 people while they slept, rousting hundreds of others to their rooftops, and turning two coastal cities into muddy, debris-filled waterways that were strewn yesterday with overturned vehicles and toppled trees.

Most of the victims were asleep Friday night when raging flood waters cascaded from the mountains after 12 hours of rain from a late-season tropical storm in the southern Mindanao region. The region is unaccustomed to the typhoons that are common elsewhere in the nation of islands....

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"With morgues full, Philippine flood victims buried" Associated Press, December 20, 2011

ILIGAN, Philippines - With funeral homes overwhelmed, authorities in a flood-stricken southern Philippine city organized yesterday the first mass burial of people who were swept to their deaths in one of worst calamities to strike the region in decades.

The official death toll from Friday night’s disaster, spawned by a tropical storm, rose to 927. Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defense, said more bodies were retrieved from the ocean.

The number of missing varied widely. Official figures put the number at 82, while the Philippine Red Cross estimated 800. The disparity underscores the difficulty in accounting for people who could be buried in the mud and debris littering much of the area or could be alive but lost in crowded evacuation centers or elsewhere....

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"Toll nearly 1,000 from Philippines floods" December 21, 2011

ILIGAN, Philippines - The government shipped more than 400 coffins to two flood-stricken cities in the southern Philippines yesterday as the death toll neared 1,000 and President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of national calamity....

Morgues are overwhelmed and running out of coffins and embalming fluid. Aid workers appealed for bottled water, blankets, tents, and clothes for many of 45,000 in crowded evacuation centers.

Navy sailors in Manila loaded a ship with 437 white wooden coffins to help local authorities handle the staggering number of dead. Also on the way were containers with thousands of water bottles.

Most of the dead were women and children who drowned Friday night when flash floods triggered by a tropical storm gushed into homes while people were asleep....  

Horrifying.

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"RISING DEATH TOLL FROM FLOODS -- A boy wiped rainwater from his eyes yesterday near a destroyed bridge at one of the three rivers that overflowed during Typhoon Washi in the southern Philippines this month. The death toll from the flash floods, which swept away entire villages, has climbed to nearly 1,500 as authorities widen their search for bodies. More than 60,000 people displaced by the destruction are being sheltered in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan (Boston Globe December 27 2011)."

One lucky enough to get out alive:

"Filipino militants free US teenager; Boy was one of 3 abducted in July" December 11, 2011|Associated Press

MANILA - A 14-year-old American boy who was abducted with his mother and cousin by suspected Muslim militants in the southern Philippines was released yesterday from five months of jungle captivity, the Philippine military said....

The boy’s Filipino-American mother, Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, was freed two months ago after she was dropped off by boat at a wharf on Basilan. Their Filipino cousin, Romnick Jakaria, dashed to freedom last month when Philippine Army special forces managed to get near an Abu Sayyaf camp in the mountains of Basilan.

They were believed to be held for ransom, but Cabangbang did not say yesterday whether any was paid.

The US Embassy was closed for the weekend and a spokesperson did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The three were vacationing with relatives on an island near Zamboanga city when they were snatched July 12 and taken by boat to nearby Basilan. The captors then called the family in Campbell County, Va., to demand a ransom....

Ransom kidnappings have long been a problem in the impoverished region and are blamed mostly on the Abu Sayyaf, a group on a list of US terrorist organizations and notorious for beheadings and bombings over the past two decades. Its stated goal has been the establishment of an Islamic state in the southern Philippines, home to minority Muslims in the predominantly Christian nation.

The Abu Sayyaf was founded on Basilan in the 1990s as an offshoot of a violent Muslim insurgency that has been raging for decades.

Hundreds of US troops have been stationed in the southern Philippines, including Basilan, to train and equip Philippine forces, but they are prohibited from engaging in local combat.

On Monday, suspected militants abducted Australian Warren Richard Rodwell, 53, from his seaside house in Zamboanga Sibugay Province, near Basilan, but it was not immediately confirmed if they also belonged to the Abu Sayyaf.

The militants are also holding an Indian, a Malaysian, and a Japanese hostage.

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And one not:

"Ex-president kept from leaving Philippines" November 09, 2011|Associated Press

MANILA - The Philippine justice secretary yesterday barred Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the former president, from seeking medical treatment abroad while she faces complaints of electoral cheating.

Two complaints of electoral sabotage have been filed against Arroyo and her husband, alleging they rigged congressional polls in 2007.

While prosecutors decide whether to file formal charges, Arroyo, 64, sought permission to get treatment abroad after undergoing three surgeries on her cervical spine.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that Arroyo’s condition was not life-threatening and that “she has been recuperating fairly well … with treatment from local doctors and local facilities.’’

The Arroyos questioned the legality of the decision before the Supreme Court yesterday, saying their rights were violated.

Arroyo stepped down last year and was then elected to Congress. Her aides deny the allegations against her and accuse her successor, President Benigno Aquino III, of political persecution.

The government frequently bars suspects in high-profile cases from traveling, saying they are flight risks. But the decisions are often political: When Arroyo was in office, she allowed ousted president Joseph Estrada to have knee surgery in Hong Kong despite being on trial for corruption. Imelda Marcos, the wife of the late former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was permitted to travel abroad while facing charges of misuse of funds.

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Related: Despite court order, Arroyo blocked from leaving Philippines

"Ex-Philippine president held in hospital" November 19, 2011|Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was arrested yesterday in her hospital room on electoral fraud charges in a high-profile tug of war set off by her attempts to leave the country ostensibly for medical treatment.

Arroyo became the second former Philippine president to face trial, after her ousted predecessor Joseph Estrada was sentenced to life in prison for corruption and later pardoned by her.

Arroyo denies any wrongdoing and accuses the government of political persecution when it stopped her from leaving the Philippines for overseas medical treatment for a bone ailment. Her lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, said the government had filed fabricated charges with “indecent haste.’’

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Also see: New Year's firecrackers in Philippines injure nearly 500