Pinoys in South Korea pray for quake victims

PNoy confers Order of Lakandula on Jasmin Lee

SEOUL—Along with President Aquino and members of his delegation, Filipinos in South Korea bowed in prayer for the victims of the earthquake that hit the Visayas.

Aquino met with the Filipino community here before flying back to Manila Friday night.



Aquino conferred the Order of Lakandula on Jasmin Lee, the first immigrant elected as member of the Korean national assembly.

In his speech, Aquino trumpeted positive developments under his administration.

He said government now has more resources to be able to repatriate distressed citizens overseas with three available C-130s and is negotiating to acquire two more.

He also mentioned the government's acquisition of two Hamilton Class Cutters.

He cited the government's ability to fund relief and rehabilitation efforts following the Zamboanga crisis with funds readily available because of prudent spending.

He said some in the media had wanted to look for victims who were unaided only to find them already attended to by government.

"Nariyan din po ang mga kasamahan natin sa media na minsan, para may storya, hahanap ng mga hindi naasikaso. Ang natuklas po nila, pati ang mga Badjao na hindi pwedeng lumayo sa dagat, nabigyang-lingap din ng estado. Ang punto po natin, supisyente na ngayon ang kakayahan ng pamahalaang matugunan, kahit pa isama ang mga may kakaibang pangangailangan," he said.

He added that his administration has been working to stop corruption to enable government deliver social services and address the shortage in classrooms.

"Hindi natin kinailangan ng magic o milagro para makamtan ang pagbabago. Simple lang naman po: Kapag naharap kami sa isang desisyon, ang tanong namin, hindi 'paano ba ako makikinabang diyan? o 'paano ba ako mananatili sa puwesto dahil diyan?' Ang nagkukumpas po sa aming mga kilos at desisyon: 'Ano ba ang pakinabang nito sa taumbayan?'" he said.

Commenting on the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel misuse, Aquino said the fight against corruption is far from over.

On the ligher side, Aquino indicated that he enjoys being a bachelor. He said he saw in his friends the difficulty of being a father of a bride letting go of his daughter.

“So ang masasabi ko lang ho sa lovelife ko, ang pakinabang ko lang na hanggang ngayon e, nag-iisa pa ako. Pagdating ng punto na problema ko po ‘yung mga nabanggit ko sa inyo, palagay ko po’y ulyanin na ako, hindi ko na mararamdaman. (laughter) Pati ‘yon ho palagay ko good news,” he said. (laughter/applause)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Fil-Ams worry about loved ones in Bohol, Cebu

GLENDALE, California - For the past two days, it has been difficult for RD Alba to log on to Facebook, seeing landmarks from his hometown of Bohol in ruins after a powerful 7.2 earthquake hit the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

He said his mother is safe, with the family's home suffering minimal damage.

"It's just kind of unreal because my family lives there and I'm just glad that my mom is fine. It's the older structures that are really, like, broken down, like the old churches. Thankfully, our place is fine, small cracks here and there, but nothing major," said Alba.

Alba, who spent his childhood and teenage years in Bohol, felt the 1996 earthquake as a youth. But he said the '96 quake does not compare to the devastation he's seen that has left over a hundred dead.

"It's really one of the rare things that happen in Bohol because it's one of the biggest earthquakes that happened. I was there during the '96 earthquake. I was still like in 3rd high school," he said.

While Alba breathes a sigh of relief, Akima Abrahan is still holding his, as he's waiting to hear from his nephew and his family who live and work in Cebu.

"I'd like to contact them tonight. I wrote them yesterday, Facebook and they haven't responded to my message. So I don't know their condition," said Abrahan.

The magnitude 7.2 earthquake that hit Bohol is the most powerful in three years.

Meanwhile, a pair of magnitude 5.1 aftershocks hit Bohol on Wednesday morning.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Korean tourists cancel trips to Bohol, Cebu

SEOUL, South Korea —The devastating earthquake in Cebu and Bohol has affected tourism as well.

The Philippine Department of Tourism’s office here has received reports of cancellations of bookings to Cebu and Bohol, which happen to be the top two favorite destinations of Koreans.

Cancellations are already estimated to number around a thousand.

But Tourism Director and Attaché Maricon Basco-Ebron said travel agents are hoping to convince South Korean tourists to instead visit other destinations in the Philippines such as Boracay and Palawan.

“Bohol and Cebu are the favorite destinations of Koreans. We were alarmed actually. We’ve seen all the destinations ruined by the earthquake. Kaagad-agad, nagtawag kami ng aming mga ahente dito and mga airlines and we are given reports that there are a lot of cancellations. But I think it should not be a cause for alarm. Some of the agents are trying to bring them to other destinations in the Philippines. ‘Yun naman ang magandang resulta. That’s why we have to be fast on the draw,” Ebron said.

South Korea is the Philippines’s top source of tourists, contributing 1,031,155 tourist arrivals in 2012. The DOT is targeting to attract 1.2 million tourists this year.

Of the million South Korean tourists that visit the Philippines, about 30% go to Bohol and Cebu.

“I think the reason why they like Cebu is they find everything in one place. There’s culture there, there’s the beach and a lot of them go to Cebu for (English) studies,” Ebron said, adding that tourists also find Cebu very safe.

Ebron hopes that the cancellations of trips to Bohol and Cebu would only be temporary and that Koreans would only defer their trips or choose another destination in the Philippines.

“We’re trying to bring them to other destinations para imbes na mag-cancel sila for Cebu and Bohol perhaps we can bring them to Boracay or Palawan, to the other destinations that we have.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Search for PH quake survivors as death toll hits 144

Rescue workers struggled Wednesday to reach isolated communities on a popular Philippine tourist island that was devastated by a huge earthquake, as aftershocks tormented survivors and the death toll surpassed 140.

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake smashed the central island of Bohol on Tuesday morning, ripping apart bridges, tearing down centuries-old churches and triggering landslides that engulfed entire homes.

The number of people confirmed killed on Bohol and neighboring islands climbed from 93 overnight to 144 on Wednesday afternoon, and more bad news was expected as rescue workers reached some of the hardest-hit areas.

Eduardo del Rosario, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council executive director, said another 291 people were injured while 23 more remain missing.

All 23 missing are in Bohol province, he said.

With destroyed bridges, ripped-open roads and power outages fragmenting the island of about one million people, NDRRMC spokesman Reynaldo Balido said it was proving difficult for police and government rescue workers to reach isolated communities.

Officials said 3 bridges in Bohol were damaged, at a cost of P57.8 million, while 7 more bridges were damaged in Cebu. Thirty schools were damaged in the earthquake.

At Loon, a small coastal town of about 40,000 people just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the epicenter of the earthquake, shocked survivors wandered around the rubble of collapsed buildings looking for relatives.

Farmer Serafin Megallen said he dug with his hands, brick-by-brick, to retrieve his mother-in-law and cousin from the rubble of their home on Tuesday.

"They were alive but they died of their injuries three hours later. There was no rescue that came, we had to rely on neighbors for help," he told AFP.

Megallen said a neighbor with a truck tried to drive the bodies to Loon's funeral parlor, only to find out the bridge across a river on the way was destroyed.

The bodies were then taken across the river aboard a boat.

"But no one will give them last rites because the church was also destroyed," he said.

Ten churches, many of them dating back centuries to Spanish colonial rule of the Philippines, were destroyed or badly damaged on Bohol and the neighboring island of Cebu.

Loon's limestone Our Lady of Light church was reduced to mounds of crushed rocks.

'Nothing much we can do'

In front of the rubble an improvised altar had been erected with a lone statue of the Virgin Mary, where teary residents stopped by to make the sign of the cross.

"We're trying our best to keep hopes up, but in this desperate situation there is nothing much we can do beyond giving comforting words," local priest Father Tomas Balakayo told AFP.

"I try to be strong but this is terrible, what have these people done to deserve this?"

The only people involved in the search and rescue efforts on Wednesday morning at Loon were residents and local police, who themselves had lost their homes or relatives.

They struggled as aftershocks continued to rattle the area. More than 800 aftershocks were recorded, including two on Wednesday with magnitudes exceeding 5.1, according to national disaster authorities.

President Benigno Aquino visited Bohol on Wednesday to oversee rescue efforts, and sought to reassure survivors.

"The bottom line is we do not have to fear that something stronger than... (Tuesday's quake) is coming," Aquino said in a nationally televised meeting with cabinet members at Tagbilaran, Bohol's capital.

Most of the deaths were on Bohol, which is one of the most popular tourist islands in the Philippines because of its beautiful beaches, rolling "Chocolate Hills" and tiny "tarsier" primates.

The number of confirmed fatalities on Bohol increased as authorities in isolated towns restored communications and reported dozens more deaths, the head of the province's information office, Augustus Escobia, told AFP.

But he said reports had still not come in from one town close to the epicentre that was believed to be badly damaged.

Nine people died on neighboring Cebu island, home to the Philippines' second-biggest city of the same name, while another person was confirmed killed on nearby Siquijor island.

The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

The deadliest recorded natural disaster in the Philippines occurred in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern island of Mindanao.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people were killed, according to official estimates.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

85 dead as strong quake rocks Visayas

A powerful earthquake killed at least 85 people in the Philippines Tuesday as it tore down modern buildings, destroyed historic churches and triggered terrified stampedes across popular tourist islands.

Fifteen of the confirmed fatalities were in Cebu, the country's second most important city and a gateway to some of its most beautiful beaches, the national disaster agency reported.

The 7.1-magnitude quake killed another 69 people in the neighboring island of Bohol, famed for its rolling "Chocolate Hills", while one other person died on nearby Siquijor, which attracts tourists with its pristine white sands.

"I was thrown to the ground by the strength of the quake. Broken glass rained on me," Elmo Alinsunorin, who was on duty as a guard for a government tax office in Cebu, told AFP.

"I thought I was going to die."

Authorities said the death toll could still climb, with officials struggling to assess the extent of the damage in the worst-hit areas of Bohol where roads were impassable and power was cut.

Nevertheless, they expressed relief the earthquake occurred on a public holiday, meaning there were fewer people than normal in many of the major buildings that suffered damage.

The quake struck at 08:12 (0012 GMT) near Balilihan, a town of about 18,000 people on Bohol, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles), the USGS reported.

The town lies across a strait about 60 kilometres from Cebu.

Cebu, with a population of 2.5 million people, is the political, economic, educational and cultural centre of the central Philippines.

It hosts the country's busiest port and the largest airport outside of the capital Manila. It also has a major ship building industry.

A university, a school and two shopping malls, public markets and many small buildings sustained damage in the quake.







Mass panic sparks stampede

Three of the people who died in Cebu were crushed to death in a stampede at a sports complex, where poor people had gathered to collect regular government cash handouts, according to the provincial disaster council chief, Neil Sanchez.

"There was panic when the quake happened and there was a rush toward the exit," Sanchez told AFP.

He said two other people were killed when part of a school collapsed on a car they had parked in, while four others died at a fish market that crumbled.

The Philippines' oldest church, Cebu's Basilica Minore del Santo Nino, was badly damaged, with its limsetone belfry in ruins.

It was first built in the 1500s by Spanish colonisers, although its current structure dates back to the 1700s.

A church on Bohol that was first built in the early 1600s also collapsed, according to Robert Michael Poole, a British tourist who was visiting the area.

"It's absolutely devastated... the entire front of the church has collapsed onto the street," Poole told AFP by telephone.

However he said there was nobody in the church at the time of the quake.

Aside from its beaches, Bohol is famous for its more than 1,000 small limestone "Chocolate Hills" that turn brown during the dry season.

One of the main tourist venues there, the Chocolate Hills Complex, was severely damaged and may be beyond repair, according to Delapan Ingleterra, head of a local tourist police unit.

"There are huge cracks in the hotel and there was a collapse of the view deck on the second floor," Ingleterra told AFP, adding that no-one was injured at the complex.

There were no reports of foreign tourists being killed anywhere in the disaster zone.

Tuesday's quake was followed by at least four aftershocks measuring more than 5.0 in magnitude.

The epicenter was 629 kilometers from Manila.

The Philippines lies on the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.

More than 100 people were left dead or missing in February last year after an earthquake struck on Negros island, about 100 kilometers from the epicenter of Tuesday's quake.

The deadliest recorded natural disaster in the Philippines occurred in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern island of Mindanao.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people were killed, according to official estimates.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Hospitals in quake-hit areas under red alert

MANILA -- The Department of Health (DOH) has placed all hospitals in quake-ravaged areas under red alert, DOH Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said.

Under red alert, all medical and non-medical personnel are required to report for work.

In an interview with ANC's "News Now" on Tuesday afternoon, Tayag said they will also deploy staff from hospitals in the National Capital Region to augment the teams in the affected areas.

Tayag said the hospitals are expecting an influx of patients as aftershocks are still expected to persist this week.

The DOH earlier said cracks were discovered in six hospitals but assured that they are still operational.

Tayag said inspection of the buildings is ongoing to ensure the safety of the patients as well as the hospital staff.

The government said relief efforts are underway and funds for the affected areas are ready.

The provinces of Bohol and Cebu have been placed under a state of calamity due to the devastating effects of the magnitude 7.2 quake that rocked parts of Visayas and Mindanao Tuesday morning.

The death toll is currently pegged at 73.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com