MANILA — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde, on Monday said he remains hopeful that there are survivors from the landslide both in Naga City in Cebu and Itogon in Benguet, due to onslaught of typhoon Ompong.
“We are hopeful and hindi naman tayo naggi-give up dyan (we are not giving up there). Sana nga meron pa tayong makuhang buhay dyan. Hindi tayo pwedeng maging pessimistic dyan. (I hope we can get out some victims alive there. We cannot be pessimistic.) We are optimistic that talagang na meron pa tayong makukuhang buhay dyan (we will get some survivors) especially sa (in) Naga, Cebu,” Albayalde told reporters during the press confernce on Monday.
He noted that there were police stations, including the PNP’s regional headquarters in Cagayan which were wrecked by the typhoon, with an estimated damage amounting to PHP7.6 million.
“As of this time, immediate yung ginagawang renovation or pag-repair nung kanilang regional headquarters kasi bubong ang nawala,everytime na umuulan tumutulo ang kanilang opisina (the repair or renovation of their regional headquarters in Cagayan is immediate. The roof was blown away. There are leaks in that office everytime it rains),” he said.
Albayalde also assured that preparations are in place for Typhoon Paeng.
“Well sa atin kapag ganyan (in terms of such occurrences), basically we declare red alert sa atin at yung mga (and our) rescue personnel natin na may training sa search and rescue are all on standby,” he said.
“Kapag may mga ganyang (In times of) calamities, disasters, yung sa atin (what we have) is manpower. Although we have less equipment, pino-provide natin is (we provide) manpower, skills, lahat yan (all of them are) trained ng (for) search and rescue sa atin (from us),” he added. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
