17 still missing due to Paeng in Maguindanao

This handout photo taken and released on October 31, 2022 by the Philippine Coast Guard shows rescue workers using makeshift poles as they conduct search operations in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao province, after Tropical Storm Nalgae hit the region. – The death toll from a storm that battered the Philippines has jumped to 98, the national disaster agency said October 31, with little hope of finding survivors in the worst-hit areas. (Photo by Handout / Philippines Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD” – NO MARKETING – NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Rescuers in Maguindanao are giving up hope of ever finding survivors from Tropical Storm Paeng (international name: Nalgae). Maguindanao provincial administrator lawyer Cyrus Torreña told dzBB they will decide on Monday whether the search and rescue operations for the 17 missing individuals would continue. The Philippine Coast Guard has advised to give up the rescue search and shift to retrieval operations in the province, he said. “That means, we have to accept the possibility that there are no more survivors among the 17 missing.” Based on the official tally of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council on Sunday, there are still 37 people missing, with 17 from Maguindanao; 10 from Western Visayas; four from Calabarzon; three from Eastern Visayas; and one each from Cagayan Valley, Mimaropa and Cordillera Administrative Region. The storm killed 156 people.

— Frances Mangosing