Rescue teams ready for deployment to ‘Pedring’-flooded provinces

MANILA, Philippines – Six search and rescue teams from the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police are ready to be deployed to two priority flood-stricken areas in Bulacan that are still submerged in floodwaters, a spokesman for the Philippine National Police said Friday, two days after Typhoon “Pedring” unleashed heavy rains in most of Luzon.

Chief Supt Agrimero Cruz said six rubber boats and three six-by-six trucks of the PNP maritime group would be sent to the affected areas.

PCG Commandant Admiral Ramon Liwag deployed a unit from their Special Operations Group (SOG) to Calumpit, Bulacan after receiving SOS messages from its residents requesting to be rescued due to rising floodwaters at around 10 p.m., Thursday, said Lieutenant Commander Algier Ricafrente, PCG spokesman.

He said that four SOG teams, two from Coast Guard District Cebu and two from CGD Iloilo, were also sent to augment their forces tending to areas in Metro Manila which have been badly hit by Pedring.

An SOG unit from CGD Southern Tagalog in Batangas was also enroute to assist in search and rescue operations in Pampanga which, according to Ricafrente, suffered from “massive flooding.”

He said that eight SOG teams were already involved in search and rescue operations in Nueva Ecija, Isabela and Cabanatuan.

The PCG spokesman said that they were readying several more PCG assets in Manila, Cavite and Batangas for deployment to Bulacan and Pampanga. He said that their PCG Auxiliary was also preparing to augment rescue teams in the said provinces, as well.

Meanwhile, relief goods were also being gathered by the PCG for distribution to those affected by Pedring.