LA TRINIDAD, Benguet - The government has been prioritizing the delivery of goods and basic commodities to the Cordillera, particularly Benguet, Baguio City and Mountain Province, to avert a food shortage, Trade Secretary Peter Favila said here on Tuesday.
Favila said the government would not hesitate to use Philippine Air Force helicopters to bring goods and supplies to towns isolated by landslides triggered by heavy rains dumped by tropical depression "Pepeng."
"Our top priority now is to bring food and supplies here the soonest should Halsema Highway remain closed," he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Favila accompanied President Macapagal-Arroyo at the Puguis Elementary School here where she condoled with the families of victims of a landslide that buried Little Kibungan, a community in the village of Puguis.
Ms Arroyo gave P10,000 each to 26 families as financial assistance. The Department of Social Welfare and Development said a total of P500,000 was donated.
She led the distribution of 804 packs of blanket, 500 food packs and 170 water jugs to families who evacuated to the school at the height of the typhoon.
In Baguio City, passenger jeepneys began plying their routes again on Tuesday, after fuel tankers from La Union and Metro Manila re-stocked gasoline stations here on Monday night.
The Department of Public Works and Highways reopened to traffic all three routes to Baguio on Tuesday. Restaurants, including a few branches of popular fast food chains, also resumed operations when the Baguio public market received fresh fish, poultry and vegetable supplies.
Government engineers and local contractors created a diversion route through Marcos Highway to accommodate vehicles, including supply trucks and passenger buses.
Officials of the Department of Trade and Industry alerted Favila about the possibility of a food shortage in several towns in Benguet that have been isolated since October 8.
Huge landslides along Ambassador village in Tublay town and Topdac village in Atok town closed Halsema Highway, which served as the main route for trucks transporting vegetables from Atok, Buguias, Mankayan, Bakun and Kibungan towns.
Mayors Concepcion Balao (Atok), Felicio Bayacsan (Buguias), Benito Siadto (Kibungan) and Manalo Galuten (Mankayan) on Monday said panic began to grip residents who feared a shortage in supply.
The mayors said that their towns have already run out of rice, meat, chicken, eggs, cooking oil, candles and fuel.
They said the situation could get worse if Halsema would not be opened soon.
Gov. Nestor Fongwan said DPWH officials asked for a week to reopen the road but Ms Arroyo wanted the job completed within three days.
In Tublay town, women and children accompanied men in hiking for at least six hours through muddy roads and hills carrying sacks of vegetables. They said they needed to sell their produce to buy food.
Benguet Vic Gov. Cresencio Pacalso cited the need to reach isolated towns whose residents have started clamoring for supplies.
"There are so many isolated barangays that need relief goods such as food. There was one mayor who cried because she could not do anything anymore when people kept asking her for food and rice and she had nothing to give because they did not have the supply," Pacalso said.
Favila said the delivery of supplies to the isolated towns would come hand in hand with the delivery of relief goods, to avert food shortage and provide comfort to families rendered homeless by landslides.
He said PAF helicopters were on standby at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City for emergency delivery of supplies to Benguet, Baguio City and Mt. Province.
The helicopters could be sent anytime to fly supplies to groceries and supermarkets here if the situation called for immediate deliveries, he said.
In the meantime, he said, Chinook helicopters of the United States government were also waiting to be tapped at Clark Field in Pampanga to deliver relief goods to typhoon victims.
Favila said the DTI engaged the services of private trucks, including delivery vans, to transport supplies to Baguio City and Benguet.
He said that he was with Ms Arroyo when officials of the SM shopping mall were asked to bring more of their supplies to their branches in Northern Luzon.
"We have to hire private trucks because the government's logistics had been depleted since relief operations are ongoing for victims of tropical storm 'Ondoy' in [Metro Manila]," he said.
He was glad to hear from DTI officials that no trader in the Cordillera had violated the price ceiling on goods set by the agency.
"It appears that the people here are more united following the damage caused by the typhoon," he said.
About 3,000 people have crossed a 60-meter road cut along Marcos Highway to leave Baguio, including about 1,500 tourists who were trapped here by Pepeng.
The Baguio tourism office said 2,000 more tourists left the city when buses were allowed to pass through Marcos Highway.
Although bus operations were suspended, some companies ferried passengers to the road cut at Marcos Highway. Buses and passenger jeepneys fetched them from the other side of road.
At 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, the DPWH blasted boulders that blocked portions of Naguilian Road (Quirino Highway) near the border of Benguet and La Union.
But Kennon Road, the first route cleared by DPWH on Sunday afternoon, would again be closed to allow work crews to continue repairs there.
Sections of Kennon are unstable, although the road afforded Baguio much needed access to food and fuel on Sunday.
The DPWH has also focused some of its resources on clearing landslides along the Halsema Highway.
The Office of Civil Defense in the Cordillera said the fatality count from Pepeng's onslaught rose to 259 on Tuesday. A total of 146 people died in the massive landslides that hit the communities of Little Kibungan and Buyagan in La Trinidad town and in other Benguet towns.
At least 40 fatalities were recorded in Mt. Province, said Governor Maximo Dalog.
Dalog said Kayan East village of Tadian town was the worst hit, next to Benguet.
A report from the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council in Mountain Province said 35 Kayan residents died. Crop damage in the Cordillera was pegged at P226 million, the Office of the Civil Defense said.
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