Echano, during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon Public Briefing on Monday, confirmed that at least five people were reported dead because of the floods.
“Yes, records po namin is [five]. But these are still in the process of being validated because we need official documents before we could declare that the death of these people [is] disaster-related, so it takes time,” said Echano.
Echano added that the province may recover in the next one to three months.
Heavy rains and massive flooding hit the province this month due to a low-pressure area and shearline.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council’s report on Monday, 1,133,093 people have been affected by the weather systems.