2 killed as ‘Kabayan’ skirts PH

Typhoon “Kabayan” has claimed the lives of two fishermen although the approaching weather disturbance which is moving northward toward Japan is not expected to hit land in the Philippines.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the bodies of the two fishermen earlier reported missing in Hagonoy, Bulacan, were recovered on Sunday.

Undersecretary Benito Ramos, NDRRMC executive director, said the body of Liberato Yumul, 40, was fished out of Manila Bay off Corregidor around Sunday noon while that of Jason Reyes, 30, was recovered in the Pampanga River in Hagonoy.

“They were the first casualties of Kabayan,” Ramos told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

He said Yumul and Reyes were with six other fishermen when their boat capsized near the Pampanga River around 3 p.m. Saturday due to heavy rains.

According to the NDRRMC chief, the victims’ companions were rescued by fellow fishermen.

Kabayan was spotted some 940 kilometers east of Casiguran, Aurora, and was moving sluggishly northward toward Okinawa, Japan, at 7 kph, but was too far from the Philippines to affect it, the weather bureau said.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 175 kph and gustiness of up to 210 kph, the typhoon is expected to be 1,020 km east of Aparri, Cagayan, this Monday morning, and 1,060 km east northeast of Aparri on Tuesday morning.

Ramos said a low pressure area in the West Philippine Sea spotted about 250 km west southwest of Sinait, Ilocos Sur, would continue to bring rains to some parts of Luzon.

The low pressure area intensified into a tropical depression Sunday afternoon. “Lando” was spotted 220 km west of Dagupan City around 5 p.m. Sunday and was expected to be 300 km west northwest of the city Monday night.

“The rains we are experiencing in Metro Manila are due to this,” forecaster Gener Quiblong of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said.

Within the next two days, the western section of northern and Central Luzon, including Metro Manila, would experience moderate to heavy rains, Quiblong said.

These may trigger flash floods and landslides, he added.

Meanwhile, the death toll from Tropical Storm “Juaning” climbed to 52 while 27 remained missing after more reports came in from the storm hit-provinces in Bicol, southern Tagalog and the Visayas.

According to the latest NDRRMC bulletin, Alfonso Mariquit, 32, of Lucena City and Kurt Cupio, 5, of Sta. Fe, Leyte, drowned in separate incidents.

The NDRRMC said the storm displaced some 192,698 families composed of about one million individuals in 20 provinces. With reports from TJ Burgonio and Shiena M. Barrameda, Inquirer Southern Luzon