New Year floods, slides hit Negros, Bicol. Inquirer Newsletter. January 2, 2021

No images? Click here   ABORTED CELEBRATION   Rain and floods forced thousands of families to abort their New Year’s Eve celebration in several cities and a town in Negros Occidental province. The sudden rush of muddy floodwaters entered homes as shown in the picture above, giving people little time to save their furniture and other belongings. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO     News Death penalty high on Senate agenda​ Capital punishment remains on the Senate agenda even after the idea has been failing to make it out of the chamber since 2006. President Duterte, who still has more than 17 months left in his term, has made repeated calls to reimpose the death penalty. There are at least 10 pending bills seeking the restoration of the death penalty, but only eight of 24 senators so far are supporting the move. —Story by DJ Yap Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   News Firecracker injuries drop by 85%​   Only 49 people sustained firecracker-related injuries while a child was killed by a stray bullet as the country welcomed 2021. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III attributed the sharp drop from the 340 injuries last year to the firecracker ban and to a behavioral change caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Still, three people were hit by stray bullets, including a girl in Lanao del Norte who died. —Story by the INQUIRER STAFF Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net   World Pfizer jab gets WHO approval​   GENEVA—The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday granted emergency validation to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, paving the way for countries worldwide to quickly approve its importation and distribution. Britain launched its inoculation drive with the US-German vaccine on Dec. 8, with the United States, Canada and EU countries following suit.  —Story by AFP Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net/World   Newsletter / Join us Has this been forwarded by a friend? Subscribe now to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Newsletters and get your latest news and important updates straight to your device. Subscribe   Add to cart now!     Banner story  New Year floods, slides hit Negros, Bicol By the Inquirer Staff Parts of Western Visayas and Southern Luzon greeted the New Year inundated by heavy rain and floods which forced more than 17,000 people to flee their homes in Negros Occidental province, officials said on Friday. The regional Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Bicol reported that many communities in 23 towns and a city in the provinces of Sorsogon, Camarines Sur and Albay were hit by floods and landslides. One man died after he was electrocuted in a flooded street in Baco town, Oriental Mindoro province. In Victorias City in Negros Occidental, the Guzman family spent the first hours of 2021 on the roof of their home where they were forced to flee by a flash flood that swamped Canetown Subdivision in Barangay 19-A. Abraham Guzman said that 30 minutes before midnight on Thursday, rushing water suddenly filled the streets and not long after reached neck-deep. Unexpected He said he, his girlfriend and parents decided to abandon their New Year celebrations and climbed to the roof due to the fast-rising flood, leaving their “media noche” feast floating in the muddy floodwater. The flood receded by 10 a.m. on Friday. “It was unexpected. We couldn’t believe this tragedy happened during the New Year. We are still dealing with the effects of COVID-19 and this happened,” Abraham told the Inquirer, adding that everyone was surprised as they only experienced a brief light rain. They later learned that heavy rain that fell on surrounding mountains had swollen a nearby river but everyone was unaware because of the New Year revelry, according to Lunalie Dawn Desusa. “Usually, there is a warning signal from the siren of the nearby sugar mill but this time there was none. We were shocked when the water came rushing around midnight,” Desusa added. Residents of Canetown Subdivision will spend the first days of 2021 cleaning up the cakes of mud left in their homes and neighborhoods. Zephard Caelian, head of the provincial disaster management program dvision, said heavy rain and the high tide on Thursday caused the inundation of Victorias, and the cities of Talisay and Silay, and EB Magalona town. Other Victorias residents sent text messages asking for help from their rooftops as the floodwater rose, he said. “We had a fireworks display to usher in the New Year at the city plaza. And here comes the flood that caught everybody by surprise after midnight,” Victorias Mayor Francis Palanca said. “It was raining in the hinterlands for days. The soil has been soaked, so we were hit by runoff water,” he added. An initial report showed that 413 families, or 1,508 people, had evacuated in Victorias. In Silay, floods affected 133 families, or 403 people, in Barangays I, II, V, Hawaiian, E. Lopez, Guinhalaran, Lantad, Mambulac and Rizal. Up to 3,467 families were affected in the Talisay villages of Bubog, Zones 1, 2, 3 , 10, 16 and 12. In EB Magalona, flash floods affected 307 households in Barangays Tanza, San Jose, Sto. Niño, Consing, Latasan,and San Isidro. Frontal system’s tail end The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) on Friday said that there was no storm over these areas in the Visayas and in the Bicol region. It said the prevailing tail end of a frontal system, or the clash of the cold air from the northeast monsoon and warm air brought by easterlies, brought the rains which would continue over parts of Luzon on Saturday. In Negros Occidental, many families in Bicol also were soaked as the clock ushered in 2021, celebrating the New Year at evacuation centers. Kate Danielle Baylon, 22, whose house was submerged in ankle-deep water in Nabua town, Camarines Sur, said her neighborhood in San Esteban village was used to being flooded during heavy rain but no one expected floods on New Year’s Day. “New Year’s celebrations of my childhood were not like this,” she told the Inquirer. “They were mostly festive and there were fireworks displays kids look forward to.” At 3 p.m. on Friday, the Nabua municipal disaster management office warned the public that water from Buhi Dam would cause more floods on Saturday. The rains caused tributaries of the Bicol River to overflow into spillways, roads and submerged some villages in Sorsogon, Camarines Sur and Albay provinces, officials said. The floods in Sorsogon were caused by the swelling of the rivers in the towns of Juban, Bulusan and Gubat. Landslides blocked at least seven roads in Sorsogon. Eleven landslides were reported in nine villages in the three towns and in Sorsogon City. About 30 families in Sagñay town in Camarines Sur were evacuated on New Year’s Eve due to heavy rain, which started on Tuesday, according to Gremil Alexis Naz, the OCD Bicol spokesperson. The rains triggered floods and landslides in at least six other towns in Camarines Sur. Landslides also were reported in some villages in the towns of Libmanan, Ginorangan and Lagonoy, all in Camarines Sur, according to the provincial disaster management office. Flight cancellations In Legazpi City, capital of Albay, rain submerged Vel Amor subdivision under about 60 centimeters of floodwater. The bad weather also forced the cancellation of two flights from Manila to Naga Airport in Pili, Camarines Sur, on Thursday. Heavy rain on New Year’s Eve also flooded some parts of Oriental Mindoro province, including Baco town. Ian Pastrana, the man who was electrocuted on Thursday night while wading through a flooded street in Baco, died on the way to a hospital, according to Vice Mayor Eric Castillo. The Bicol region and Quezon and Palawan provinces will continue to experience light to moderate and heavy rain on Saturday due to the tail end of a frontal system, the weather agency said. —REPORTS FROM CARLA GOMEZ, ANA ROA, REY ANTHONY OSTRIA, MAR ARGUELLES, MADONNA VIROLA AND NIKKA VALENZUELA   Read more: newsinfo.inquirer.net     Editorial Valiantly hopeful Call it projection, a fervent prayer, natural optimism, maybe even wishful thinking, but 91 percent of Filipinos told a recent survey that they would face the new year with hope despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.  The Pulse Asia survey was conducted Nov. 23 to Dec. 2 among 2,400 representative respondents aged 18 and above. For most people who can’t wait for 2020 to be over, looking decidedly ahead is a survival mechanism preferable to looking back on a year filled with mortal dread over an unforgiving virus that has since wreaked havoc on people’s lives and livelihoods. But hope, to be empowering, must at the very least be shared with others for whom it is considered unattainable luxury.  For 2021 to be a year of hope, the technological advantages, the scientific breakthroughs, the possible cure for the virus, the plain capability of those in power to mobilize relief and resources, must be shared unstintingly—not just to deepen our humanity, but more practically, to promote mass immunity, protect everyone, and save communities and society. The unrestrained habit, in this country at least, among government officials to arrogate special treatment to themselves, from jumping the testing line during the first months of the crisis and now to inoculating themselves in secret ahead of everyone else, is a betrayal of the solidarity and collective sacrifice that must be forged if the country is to win decisively against the pandemic. The powers-that-be that declared 'We heal as one' must understand: If that promise ends up as yet another lie, all the valiant hope and optimism that Filipinos are bringing to the fight despite everything would be for naught, and 2021 would unreel for the country as if it had learned nothing from the accursed year just past. Read more: opinion.inquirer.net   Copyright © 2020 PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: P.O. Box 2353, Makati Central Post Office, 1263 Makati City, Philippines.   Share    Tweet    Share    Forward  Preferences  |  Unsubscribe