'Reming' punished us, too, Marinduque gov tells Palace

While government relief efforts for typhoon Reming are focused the southern Luzon mainland, Marinduque Gov. Carmencita Reyes on Wednesday asked Malacañang not to forget her province. Reyes lamented that her constituents were also devastated in the wake of Reming, having lost all means of livelihood after the storm destroyed banana and coconut plantations. "All our main crops, coconuts and bananas were ruined. There's nothing left of all our plantations. All of our schools had been destroyed," she said in Filipino during an interview on dzBB radio. She said almost 50,000 families face hunger in the coming months as even their hybrid corn plants were flattened. Many roads leading to the province remain impassable, she said. Even her own house was damaged as her heavy dining table was washed out to sea, she lamented. "We cannot be self-sufficient in rice. We have problems in irrigation. So we prioritized the planting of corn. But now everything's gone," she said. The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported Wednesday that the number of people dead or missing because of Reming's wrath had surged to 1,283 as hopes faded further of finding survivors from landslides and flash floods. The confirmed deaths were pegged at 543 while the number of missing persons stood at 740. Reported damage to property also rose to more than P608 million, as more reports of infrastructure loss came in. Damage to infrastructure was placed at P357 million, while damage to agriculture was at P251 million. -GMANews.TV