100 cops Bicol-bound for relief, rescue efforts in areas hard hit by Typhoon Rolly

CEBU CITY—The Philippine National Police (PNP) is sending at least 100 policemen from its Central Visayas office to bring help to areas in the Bicol region that have been hit hard by Category 5 Typhoon Rolly (international name Goni).

Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, Central Visayas police director, said he directed policemen from the Regional Crisis Battalion to help in relief and rescue efforts and in other emergencies in Bicol.

“Thank God, there has been no much damage in Cebu,” said Ferro. “That is why we should help  Bicolanos,” he said.

Ferro said the regional police team will stay in Bicol for at least a week.

“From there, we will decide on whether to pull them out or not,” he said.

In Northern Samar, at least 50 houses at Baybay, a coastal village of Catarman town, were destroyed by Rolly.

Early reports from Catarman said one of the houses that was destroyed was that of a family on quarantine after exposure to a COVID-19 patient.

Families in the town displaced by Rolly, the most powerful storm in the world in 2020, had been moved to government shelters.

At least 554 families, or 2,534 individuals, from nine villages which were prone to flooding and landslides had been evacuated by the local government.

The local government unit, as part of COVID-19 protocol, distributed masks to the evacuees.

In San Roque town, also in Northern Samar, 1,812 families, or 8,013 individuals,  were also evacuated before Rolly made landfall.

In Allen town, still in Northern Samar, the Philippine Coast Guard lifted a no-sail directive starting 5 p.m. on Sunday (Nov. 1).

At least 593 passengers and vehicles were stranded at the three ports of Allen when sea travel was suspended ahead of Rolly’s landfall.

No casualties have been reported in the entire Visayas region.

In Iloilo City, thousands of residents who left their homes to heed preemptive evacuation orders had since returned.

The Antique Provincial Risk Reduction and Management Office reported that 1,368 families, or 4,532 persons, who had been evacuated on Sunday have returned to their houses as of Monday noon.

These included residents from 33 villages in the towns of Barbaza, Libertad, Caluya, Sebaste and Tibiao, all in northern Antique which were placed under storm signal No. 2 at the height of the typhoon.

Hundreds of residents of Malay town in Aklan, including Boracay Island, who were evacuated on Sunday have also returned to their homes.

Regular trips of motorboats servicing the Caticlan-Boracay route had resumed early on Monday. REPORTS FROM NESTOR P. BURGOS JR., JOEY GABIETA AND NESTLE SEMILLA

TSB