48 people still missing in CAR due to Ompong —RDRRMC

Forty-eight people remained missing as of Monday midnight in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), a little over 48 hours after Typhoon Ompong exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility, leaving behind it a trail of devastation.

In a report, the Cordillera Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) said as of Monday midnight,  54 people perished in CAR due to the typhoon, with 32 others injured.

The death toll is expected to increase as search and rescue operations in typhoon-hit areas continue.

According to the NDRRMC, Ompong (international name: Mangkhut) caused 119 landslides/rock slides and 33 flooding incidents in the region.

The typhoon, which lashed northern Luzon provinces on Saturday, displaced 10,404 families (38,864 persons) in Abra, Benguet, Apayao, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mt Province and Baguio City.

So far, only two areas in CAR — Kalinga province and Mayoyao municipality in  Ifugao — are under state of calamity.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday met with the families of victims of the deadly landslide in Benguet caused by Typhoon Ompong over the weekend.

Itogon

Disaster officials said most of the fatalities were illegally mining for gold near an abandoned bunkhouse owned by a mining firm in Itogon, Benguet.

According to Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan, the mining firm, Benguet Corporation, did not rehabilitate the site after it was abandoned.

Palangdan said the company failed to rehabilitate the area even after a sinkhole appeared in the area in 2015.

Due to multiple landslides that happened in the region, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu ordered for a cease and desist order on all small-scale mining operations in CAR. —KBK, GMA News