FOUR people were reported missing since Sunday in the waters off Aurora province, as some parts of the country experienced continued rains owing to the effects of the northeast monsoon and the easterly wave.

Senior Supt. Romulo Esteban, Aurora police commander, said search-and-rescue teams are still scouring the waters off Aurora for Ferdinand Basbas, 40; his two sons, Michael Patrick, 20, and Norwin, 17; and Reynell Ritual, 16.

Esteban said the four, who are residents of barangay Sabang, Baler, went fishing on November 1, but have not returned since.

He said Navy and Air Force assets have been tapped for the ongoing search-and-rescue operations.

Meanwhile, the continued downpour, which was brought by the northeast monsoon that has affected Metro Manila and Regions 1, 2 and 3, and the Cordillera Administrative Region, has triggered flooding in several provinces.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said as of Thursday, 18 barangay in Casiguran and Dilasag, both in Aurora, have been under water that in some areas is neck-deep.

As a result, officials were forced to evacuate at least 166 families, or 795 persons, and house them in four evacuation centers.

In Isabela a total of 6,656 families from 31 barangay in the towns of Ilagan, Benito Soliven, San Mateo and Delfin Albano were also evacuated owing to flooding.

Several roads and bridges were also rendered impassable. These are in San Mariano, Cauayan City and Ilagan.

In Cagayan floodwaters also stopped vehicular traffic to the Tawi Overflow Bridge and to the Pinacanauan Bridge, both in Tuguegarao City, and to the Bagunut and Abusag Overflow bridges in the town of Baggao.

In Nueva Ecija the Aurora Road was also impassable to all types of vehicles.

Gordon: Avoid disaster, spread development

SEN. Richard Gordon, meanwhile, called for building up areas in the greater Central Luzon region to decongest Metro Manila and reduce the impact of disasters in the
metropolis.

To pave the way for the development of Central Luzon, Gordon authored Senate Bill 143, or the Luzon Global Corridor Act, which aims to strengthen and expand the powers of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Clark Development Corp.

Expanding the powers of SBMA and CDC will allow them to develop other special economic zones in  Luzon to optimize the utilization of the international airports in Subic, Clark and Manila; the seaports  in Subic and Manila and one connecting highway, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. 

“Metro Manila is overcrowded. The real disaster is the human disaster, because we do not know how to cope with the cycles of nature anymore. This will become even worse when the impact of climate change becomes stronger in the coming years,” Gordon stressed.

“One key part on solving this problem is to spread opportunities outside of Metro Manila to decongest the city while solving poverty in the provinces. When a person is able to stand on his or her own two feet, with an education and a job, then he or she will be empowered to deal with the crises of life.  That’s real development, that’s real disaster prevention,” he added.