PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
Pinatubo flood deaths called ‘act of nature’
Philippine Daily Inquirer
first posted 04:24:00 08/14/2009
Filed Under: Disasters (general), Police
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The chief of police in Capas, Tarlac, has cleared private agencies, local officials and tour operators of criminal liabilities in the death of three foreign tourists and two Filipinos in floods at the foot of Mt. Pinatubo at the height of Typhoon “Kiko” on August 6.
“The incident is purely an act of nature, unforeseen and unpredictable, therefore no agency or anybody should be blamed or made accountable,” Superintendent Joyce Patrick Sangalang said in an August 11 memorandum that summed up the findings of a police investigation.
“All precautionary measures were taken into consideration by all concerned agencies,” Sangalang added, referring to the registration of the two batches of Korean, French and Belgian tourists – 12 in all – at the visitors’ center of the Pull Travel Destination Corp. (PDC) in Barangay (village) Sta. Juliana and their hiring of guides from there.
Quoting interviews with the survivors, Sangalang said the groups went up when the weather was sunny and rushed down less than hour later when strong rains hit the area.
He did not say in the report if the guide, Fernando Ordonio, 39, and a resident in the village, had advised otherwise.
Ordonio died with Martine Cholet, 53, and Thierry Caillot, 49, both French; and Walter Adrien Steylemans, 48, a Belgian. A village watchman, Frederick Reyla, died in rescue operations.
Sangalang said a group met a landslide as their vehicle descended while two vehicles got stuck in the river down the Skyway, a shorter route carved by the local government to the volcano.
Ronaldo Tiotuico, director of the Department of Tourism in Central Luzon, had raised concern for the safety of the Skyway because it was built without an environmental clearance certificate.
In his report, Sangalang did not say why the tourists registered with the PDC and hired guides there instead of doing these at the Sta. Juliana Tourism Council. The guides there had been trained by the DoT in mountain survival and trek adventure.
The investigation also established that the tourists hired drivers and vehicles in Angeles City and not in Sta. Juliana where the drivers are more familiar with the terrain and weather.
Source: Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon
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PHILIPPINE STAR
No one to blame for Pinatubo tragedy, says Capas cop chief
By Ding Cervantes (The Philippine Star) Updated August 14, 2009 12:00 AM
CAPAS, Tarlac, Philippines – “No agency or anybody should be blamed or made accountable.”
Thus said this town’s police chief, Superintendent Joyce Patrick Sangalang, yesterday, citing the results of his investigation into the death of three foreigners and three locals amid bad weather in the Mt. Pinatubo area last Thursday.
“The incident is purely an act of nature, unforeseen and unpredictable,” said Sangalang in a memorandum to Senior Superintendent Rudy Lacadin, provincial police director, adding that “all precautionary measures were taken into consideration by all concerned agencies.”
Earlier, Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz, Central Luzon police director, ordered Lacadin to investigate the incident to find out if Capas local officials could be held for “criminal negligence” for allowing the tourists to trek up to the crater lake of Mt. Pinatubo despite the bad weather last Aug. 6.
The three tourists – two French and a Belgian and three locals who tried to rescue them – died in the incident. Five other French and three Korean nationals survived.
The tourists were all registered and given clearance to climb the volcano by the Pull Development Travel Corp., also known as Pinatubo Development Corp. (PDC), a Korean firm granted permit by the Capas local government to operate a spa and facilitate tourism activities in Barangay Sta. Juliana, the usual starting point for the Pinatubo trek.
Sangalang said his report was “to determine the real circumstances surrounding the alleged drowning and death of three foreign nationals and three Filipinos in the Pinatubo area,” focusing on “how to improve safety procedures and additional training for tourist guides and 4x4 off-road drivers to avoid similar incidents in the future.”
Apart from a rescue team headed by Capas Mayor Reynaldo Catacutan, Sangalang said 54 other residents joined the Army, Air Force and police in the two-day search and rescue operations.
Sangalang cited several testimonies, including those of the surviving foreign tourists, that the weather was indeed fine when they registered with the PDC up to the time they reached the summit of Mt. Pinatubo at around 11 a.m.
No Pagasa warning
He said the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration did not issue any warning of a weather disturbance in the Mt. Pinatubo area on the day of the tourists’ trek.
“It is concluded that the incident was due to unpredictable/unexpected sudden change of weather condition that resulted in the disaster. However, although nature flows on its own course, disaster/tragedy preparedness and mitigation is always necessary at all times,” Sangalang said in his memorandum.
Meanwhile, Catacutan wrote Philippine Air Force (PAF) chief Lt. Gen. Oscar Rabena to say that he was not blaming the 600th Air Base Wing, which maintained a checkpoint at Crow Valley on the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo in Capas town, for the accident.
“No one is to be blamed since no one would like (that) to happen,” he said.
He said he has even endorsed to the municipal council a resolution commending the PAF rescuers, particularly 1Lt. Eddiemili Layan who was injured during the rescue operations.
Catacutan said he was “probably misquoted” on this. Earlier, he told The STAR that the PAF checkpoint at Crow Valley was the last point to clear tourists going up to Mt. Pinatubo and that PAF personnel there could have prevented the tourists in their trek last Aug. 6.
In his letter, the mayor said he was “saddened” by a statement of Brig. Gen. Alejandro Camagay, chief of the Air Reserve Command of the 600th Air Base Wing at the Clark Freeport, that he had always insisted that tourists be allowed by the PAF to pass through Crow Valley.
“Anyone in his right mind would not get angry if the tourists will be stopped for good reason such as a military exercise or inclement weather. Besides we coordinate with them if such an exercise is taking place or if the weather condition is squally,” he said.
Catacutan also denied Camagay’s claim that he had been namedropping President Arroyo and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro as his wedding sponsors.
“Never and not even in a single instance that I bragged about my close and personal affiliations with them. I respect them so much within the truest sense of the word and would not dare to use their well revered names for my personal insinuations of influence,” he said.
Earlier, the Department of Tourism in Central Luzon said the new route taken by the tourists on the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo were put up by the PDC without a permit from government agencies and that government volcanologists would have been against it.
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MANILA TIMES
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Two French, 9 Filipinos killed in Mt. Pinatubo
Two French tourists and nine Filipinos were killed from flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rain in Zambales province, north of Manila, police and officials said on Friday.
In addition to the two dead, another French tourist was missing after 12 French, Belgian and South Korean hikers were caught in heavy rain after scaling Mount Pinatubo volcano on Thursday, said regional police official and Chief Supt. Leonilo de la Cruz.
Six French and three South Koreans were reported to have been rescued by a Philippine Air Force helicopter.
A police official from Tarlac province, also north of Manila and near Mount Pinatubo, said that only six died in the incident—a French tourist, another European and four Filipinos who all drowned because of the flooding and landslides.
Senior Supt. Rudy Lacadin, Tarlac provincial police director, added that another European was missing.
Reports reaching Camp Crame, the national-police headquarters, said that a rescue team recovered the bodies of four victims around 10 a.m. Friday in the village of Santa Juliana in Capas town, Tarlac.
The Belgian Embassy in the Philippines declined to comment on the incident.
The foreigners had hiked up the volcano, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila, but after they descended were caught by the heavy rain from Typhoon Kiko that mixed with volcanic ash on the slopes to form deadly, fast-moving mudslides.
A Filipino guide and a Filipino rescuer were also killed.
The 1,475-meter Mount Pinatubo erupted with devastating force in 1991, spewing a plume of ash 30 miles into the sky, killing more than 800 people.
Since then, it has become a popular attraction for mountaineers and hikers.
Meanwhile, in the northern resort city of Baguio, three children were killed after the rain triggered a landslide that buried their shantytown, said local police official and Chief Insp. Paul Mencio
Also in Zambales, the heavy rain caused a dike to burst, flooding 10 villages and leaving a husband and wife dead, Gov. Amor Deloso said.
The floods also washed out a major bridge and forced some 2,100 people to flee their homes for evacuation centers, the governor added.
He appealed for more assistance, saying some residents were isolated by floods and were forced to climb up trees to avoid the rising waters.
Two other locals died near Mount Pinatubo in separate incidents.
The heavy rain from Typhoon Kiko also brought floods to other northern provinces and parts of Metro Manila, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said in a report also on Friday.
The council added that landslides blocked roads in northern Benguet and Ifugao and in central Nueva Ecija.
It said that a sudden rise in the water level of the Ipo Dam in central Bulacan required opening of floodgates, which raised water levels downstream.
Residents of six villages in Botolan town of Zambales had to be evacuated from floods of four feet and deeper caused by the breaching of a dike at 4 p.m. also on Thursday. Roads there were impassable.
Source: AFP And Sammy Martin
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MANILA BULLETIN
Gov't officials blame each other for death of six Pinatubo trekkers
By MAR T. SUPNAD
August 13, 2009, 5:50pm
Capas, Tarlac — many people, particularly those in the government service, have the habit of washing their hands and putting the blame on each other when negligence is traced as cause of a tragedy.
This was proven once more when tragedy struck in Mt. Pinatubo a few days ago, resulting in the death of six persons, including three foreigners.
Shortly after the incident, Chief Supt. Nilo dela Cruz, Region 3 police director, immediately blamed Mayor Rey Catacutan for the incident and directed Tarlac police officials to conduct investigation of the local officials.
Six persons, including three French nationals, were allowed to trek to Mt. Pinatubo last week while typhoon “Kiko” was lashing Central Luzon.
Ronnie Tiotuico, regional director of the Department of Tourism (DoT), immediately washed his hands, saying the municipal government of Capas had already taken over the operations of the Pinatubo Development Corp. from the tourism department.
The Mt. Pinatubo tourism project is reportedly raking in big money, and that’s was the reason the municipal government got interested in it.
The victims were reportedly allowed by Capas officials to climb Mt. Pinatubo despite the bad weather.
Five of the victims of the tragedy were identified as Thierry Chailot, Martin Cholet, Walter Steylian, all French nationals; and tourist guide Orlando Fernando and barangay tanod Fidel Relia.
But Mayor Catacutan immediately denied the claim and accused the Philippine Air Force (PAF) of negligence. He said that usually, soldiers manning a PAF checkpoint do not allow tourists to climb Mt. Pinatubo if the weather is bad.
Chief Superintendent Dela Cruz, who is also chairman of the Region 3 Disaster Coordinating Council, had told Sr. Supt. Rudy Lacadin, Tarlac police director, to file criminal charges
against those responsible for the tragedy if the evidence warrants.
The French nationals were in a group that was swept away by rampaging floodwaters. Another group, composed of Korean trekkers, was lucky as they were rescued by local and government teams.
Dela Cruz ordered Lacadin to determine, if any, the criminal and administrative liabilities of the local officials led by Mayor Catacutan.
Mayor Catacutan could not be reached for comment.
Barangay tanod Relia of Sta. Juliana tried to rescue the victims, but he too perished when strong water current coming from Mt. Pinatubo took him away, Supt. Baltazar Mamaril Jr., public information officer of the Region 3 police office, said.
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PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
9 dead in floods, slides due to ‘Kiko’
2 French, 1 Belgian drown in Tarlac River
By Inquirer Northern Luzon, Inquirer Central Luzon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:29:00 08/08/2009
Filed Under: Weather, Disasters & Accidents
MANILA, Philippines — At least nine people, including three foreigners trekking on Mt. Pinatubo, died in flash floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon “Kiko” (international codename: Morakot) in Central and northern Luzon on Thursday and Friday, according to reports gathered by the Inquirer.
Strong rains caused the O’Donnell River in Capas, Tarlac, to breach its banks on Thursday afternoon, sweeping three foreigners and their Filipino guide in the current.
Senior Supt. Rudy Lacadin, Tarlac police director, said three Koreans and six French nationals survived the flash flood that occurred as they descended Pinatubo on Thursday afternoon.
The Tarlac police and the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) identified the fatalities as Cholet Martine and Callet Thierry, both of France; Staylenan Walter of Belgium; and their Filipino guide, Ordonio Fernando.
The foreigners were part of a group of eight French nationals and one Belgian who registered at the Pinatubo Development Center in Capas at around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday for a trek on Pinatubo, according to Tarlac Gov. Victor Yap.
“We have no excuses for what happened. We will do further work to ensure the visitors’ safety,” Governor Yap said.
Since 1993 when the Department of Tourism began the treks to the volcano and transferred management of the program to the local government in 2001, no tourist was reported to have met major accidents in the area.
Yap has suspended the treks indefinitely for safety reasons.
Two other Filipinos—Fidel Reyla, a barangay (village) watchman from Sta. Juliana, and a man identified only by his last name, Bacani—were also killed in the flash flood.
Reyla was swept by the current while assisting in the rescue operations, according to reports. The circumstances of Bacani’s death were unclear.
Their bodies were found Friday and taken to the Mallari Funeral Homes in Capas.
MANILA STANDARD TODAY
Pinatubo Climbers will return
AUGUST 12, 2009
The foreign tourists who survived a landslide that killed 12 people on Thursday including two Frenchmen and a Belgian said yesterday they intended to return to the Philippines to continue their itinerary.
Helen Diaga Radjou said she and the other survivors would not let the accident stop them from discovering the Philippines and its people.The 12 fatalities were killed when their vehicle was swept away by a flash flood on their way down to Mt. Pinatubo in Tarlac.
The six French who survivors three men, including one with fractured shoulder, and three women were taken to the Central Luzon Doctor’s Hospital in Tarlac City and were later brought to Manila. The Tourism Department yesterday no treks to Pinatubo should be allowed when it was raining.
“When the [department] was handling the Pinatubo trek, we had a strict policy of issuing permits to the guides before proceeding to the crater”. Central Luzon chief Ronaldo Tiotuico said.
“We never allowed tourist to go with even the slightest weather disturbance” he said adding the department turned over the administration of the Pinatubo tour to the local government in 2005
European tourists Marie France Fouchard, Beatrice Le Guyader, Didier Bazin, Philippe Navarre and Radjou were set to go home on Tuesday. Another survivor, Philippe Guinebert, has been advised to stay in hospital to recuperate from a broken rib and swollen limbs.
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BUILT BY KOREAN INVESTOR
New Pinatubo route sans gov’t permits
By Ding Cervantes, Aug 11, 2009, Punto Central Luzon
CLARK FREEPORT – The new route taken by the ill-fated foreign tourists who died after being swept off by strong currents on the slopes of Mt.Pinatubo last Thursday was built by a Korean investor without the needed permits from government agencies.
Director Ronnie Tiotuico of the regional office of the Department of Tourism (DOT) said that the new route, dubbed as “Skyway” was developed some two years ago by Korean investors who established the Pinatubo Development Corp. (PDC) in Barangay Sta. Juliana in Capas, Tarlac.
The Skyway, he said, was built “without the necessary clearances from government agencies concerned such as the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the Department of Environment and |Natural Resources (DENR) or the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).”
Tiotuico said he did not expect Phivolcs to approve the Skyway, amid its earlier advisory declaring that “no other way except what nature has provided should be used for trekking” up to Mt. Pinatubo’s crater-lake summit which is being promoted by the government as a tourist destination.
He said Phivolcs recommends on the “streambed” of the O’Donnel river, which emanates from the upper reaches of Mt. Pinatubo as the safest route to the summit. This, he said, is the reason why trekking to the volcano is supposed to be totally prohibited during the rainy season, as the O’Donnel river becomes active in channeling waters from the slopes during the rainy month.
Tiotuico lamented that the Skyway was even promoted by the PDC as an “all-season trail”.
No one from the PDC could be contacted, as its office in Barangay Sta. Juliana was closed yesterday.
Two French nationals and a Belgian died at the O’Donnel river on the volcanic slopes last Thursday after swelling waters in the river swept them off. Five other French nationals and three Koreans survived.
The foreign tourists initially registered with the PDC which reportedly gave them the permit for their volcano trek on board three vehicles provided by the Angeles 4x4 Club.
“Going up by the streambed requires one hour drive and two hours of walking to reach the summit. The Skyway required only a one-hour drive and 30 minutes of walking towards the crater lake,” Tiotuico said, but noted that the latter route is without safety features such as signages at dangerous turns.
He said there had already been several cases of accidents along the Skyway but no deaths were reported until last Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Jose Caparas, commander of the Army’s 3rd Mechanized Batallion under the Light Armor Division based in Tarlac, lamented unauthorized intervention apparently by the PDC is the conduct of search and rescue operations for the tourists last Thursday.
Caparas, who headed the army rescue team, said confusion arose during the operations as the PDC failed to coordinate with government rescue teams while barking out its own instructions on what to do.
He said that last Friday morning, one of the rescue helicopters which was supposed to pick up an injured French national on the slopes, was gone.
Later on the injured tourist, along with four other French nationals and three Koreans who were reported trapped, showed up near the base of the rescue teams in Sta. Juliana.
“I am glad they were safe, but my point is that such rescue missions must be systematic and coordinated. If any untoward thing happened to these tourists who survived, my unit would be blamed,” he said.
Caparas said the PDC apparently carried out instructions to the foreigners through the radio equipment of the drivers of the vehicles used for the trek.
At the same time, Capas Mayor Rey Catacutan, who earlier said the tourists should have been prevented from trekking up to Mt. Pinatubo by a Philippine Air Force (PAF) team stationed at the Crow Valley area in his town, said that he was “not really blaming the Air Force” for last Thursday’s tragedy.
“The fact is I even plan to formally honor a certain Lt. Layan who was injured during the rescue operations,” he said.
This, even as Tiotuico said he is also interested in finding out who owned the hut where the stranded tourists stayed on the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo Thursday night. He said the hut owner gave the tourists warm soup and dried clothes and hosted them overnight.
Tiotuico also said he would like to know who also accommodated the tourists a carabao-driven cart for them to cross the O’Donnel river the following day.
These events were relayed by French national Helene Radjou, one of the survivors, noted Tiotuico who said he plans to cite the unknown persons for the help they extended to the tourists.
The tourists who stayed in the hut and crossed the river on a carabao cart later surfaced in Sta. Juliana, surprising rescuers.
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DESPITE RECENT TRAGEDY ON VOLCANIC SLOPES
Korean firm, Capas execs defy gov’t to run Pinatubo treks anew
By Ding Cervantes, Dec 21, 2009, Punto Central Luzon
CAPAS, Tarlac- Almost five months after six people, including three tourists, were killed by rampaging waters on the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo, a Korean investor and the local government here have defied authorities by again offering treks to the volcanic summit and building new structures at the crater area.
Reynaldo Garcia, chief of the Environmental Impact Assessment Division of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) regional office said the EMB issued a “cease and desist” order to the Korean firm Pull Travel Destination Corp. (PDC) which operates a spa and the trekking project after the tragic accident on the slopes last Aug. 6.
The PDC was given permit by the Capas municipal government to operate in Barangay Sta. Juliana in this town where the trek to the crater starts, municipal tourism officer Marissa Velasquez admitted in a telephone interview.
She also admitted the PDC started accommodating tourists for Mt. Pinatubo treks way back last October, despite the lack of the required environmental clearance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Ronaldo Tiotuico, regional director of the Department of Tourism (DOT), said he and officials from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) have been against the resumption of treks to the summit of Mt. Pinatubo whose two-kilometer wide crater lake was created by the volcano’s historic eruption in 1991.
“It’s still dangerous,” he said, even as he also criticized the development of the so-called “skyway”, a path which has shortened the trek to the crater, and the construction of structures in the area of the crater.
“We prefer that nature remain untouched there, because of the historical significance of Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption,” he said, amid the construction of new pathways and other structures at the summit.
“This reminds me also of Korean investors who had to be told to stop constructing buildings in a danger zone near Taal volcano,” Tiotuico said.
Last Aug. 6, the PDC issued permits for seven French, one Belgian and three Korean nationals to climb Mt. Pinatubo via Sta. Juliana here. Heavy rains caught up with them on the summit, and on their way down, two of the French nationals and the Belgian, as well as three local folk who tried to rescue them were later swamped by the rampaging waters of the Sacobia River. The bodies of some of the victims were found dismembered downstream.
The Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) ordered the suspension of all treks to Mt. Pinatubo, even as the PDC’s lack of clearances from various government agencies, including the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, surfaced.
The local police later exonerated the local government and the PDC from any responsibility, saying the accident resulted from an act of nature. The municipal government, headed by Mayor Rey Catacutan who is running for Congress, gets shares from earnings from the PDC operations.
The controversy on the re-opening of the trekking project, however, seems to also extend to the operations of the Korean firm PDA. Mabalacat, Pampanga tourism officer Guy Hilbero said the firm has been issuing mere provisional receipts and charging tourists “exorbitantly”.
Hilbero showed Punto! a “provisionary receipt” issued to him by PDC when he accompanied two jeeploads of tourists for a volcanic trek last Dec. 13. The PDC charged him P5,000 fee for the two 4X4 jeeps, P1,000 “skyway fee” for the two vehicles, P1,000 for two tourist guides, and P2,700 “conservation fee” or P300 each for the nine tourists in his party.
“The receipt issued to me was worthless and the fees are ridiculous,” he said, noting that before, conservation fee cost only P50 per person.
Hilbero also said that Aeta tribal groups were not consulted on the PDC project, contrary to the provisions of Republic Act. 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act that requires “free and previous consent” of cultural minorities on any development of lands traditionally regarded as their ancestral domain. He insisted that Mt. Pinatubo is historically considered as such domain.
Velasquez admitted that the EMB’s cease and desist order has remained effective, but insisted that it was issued to the PDC which was merely barred from making any physical changes on Mt. Pinatubo. The order, she said, did not prohibit the sending of tourists to the volcanic crater.
She admitted, however, that minimal structures have been put up by the Korean investor to rehabilitate the “skyway” and the area of the crater lake.
“The manager of PDC is Carmelito Supan, a Filipino who used to be the assistant of Tourism Director Tiotuico, so he knows what’s supposed to be allowable in the development of the area despite the cease and desist order,” she said.
Velasquez also said customers of PDC could ask for official receipts either from the Korean firm or from her office. “It could be that official receipts were locked up at that time Hilbero came with his guests,” she said.
She also said that local Aetas get some share from the fees imposed on tourists and that their shares are coursed through their barangay chairmen.
Garcia said that while the order signed by EMB regional director Carlo Magno did not prohibit trekking to the volcano summit as this is beyond the authority of his agency, it barred any development on Mt.Pinatubo. He noted that earlier, the EMB imposed a fine of not more than P50,000 on the PDC for operating without an ECC.
“Up to now, no ECC has been issued either to the PDC or the Capas local government for any tourism enterprise at Mt. Pinatubo,” he stressed.
Velasquez said that the local government and PDC officials have solicited the help of Tiotuico in seeking ECC and other such requirements from national government agencies.
But Tiotuico denied this, saying the “skyway” is vulnerable to being eroded as it is based on lahar deposits which can readily be loosened during rains.
A trek to the summit usually starts on board a hired four-wheel powered jeep at the PDC in Barangay Sta. Juliana which reaches a foot trek after one and a half hours. A trek on foot towards the crater itself has been shortened from 45 to only 15 minutes by a new route developed by the PDC.
A few days before storm Ondoy devastated Metro Manila last Sept. 26, Punto! got a text invitation from the Capas miunicipal government for the resumption of Mt. Pinatubo treks after the Aug. 6 tragedy on the volcanic slopes. The activity was, however, cancelled amid announcement that Ondoy was coming.
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