Roxas explains ‘Seniang’ death toll

FIRING LINE Regional and district directors as well as other top officials of the Philippine National Police and the Interior and Local Government flank Interior Secretary Mar Roxas during a New Year’s call on their boss in Camp Crame, Quezon City. LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines–Interior Secretary Mar Roxas on Wednesday maintained that the government did not come up short in its preparations for Tropical Storm “Seniang” (international name: “Jangmi”), which left at least 65 people dead.

In an interview after the traditional New Year’s call of police, fire and jail officials at Camp Crame, Roxas said many of the fatalities in the last weather disturbance to hit the country in 2014 were recorded in areas which were not “designated as danger zones.”

He noted that in Catbalogan, Samar, one of the areas to have been hit hardest by Seniang, the 19 fatalities were riding in vehicles that were buried in a landslide along the national highway.

In Ronda, Cebu, he said the houses which were swept by flashfloods and mudslides were not located in danger zones.

“While we acknowledge that incident and that it happened during the heavy rains, this is not an issue of whether or not they had to be evacuated,” Roxas told reporters.–Marlon Ramos and Jeannette I. Andrade