The death toll of typhoon "Pepeng" (Parma) in Benguet province rose to 189 after a man's body was plucked from the pile of mud and loose soil on Sunday in the landslide-hit community in Puguis village in La Trinidad town, a television report said Monday. GMA News’ Ian Cruz reported on Unang Balita that rescuers and miners retrieved a body of a man from the area where over 40 houses were buried in rain-loosened soil that cascaded from mountain slopes last Thursday night. Search and rescue operations have been ongoing since then, after Pepeng made a third landfall in Northern Luzon, dumping heavy rains that triggered over 40 landslides in the Cordilleras. As many as 250 lives have been lost due to the landslides that hit the region, and the figure may go up as search operations continue. The television report cited local officials as saying that records of the number of those missing were inconclusive as many people in Puguis were renting rooms or just spending the night in the houses of their friends or relatives when the landslide took place. It added that estimates by local officials were based on accounts from relatives of the residents there, and that there were reported cases of whole families being wiped out by the tragedy, thus making attempts at accurate accounting a tough job to do.
La Trinidad officials have pegged the death toll in the village at 108, while the count for the whole province of Benguet reached 189, according to its governor. Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan, in an interview with Arnold Clavio on
Unang Balita, said that “rescue and retrieval" operations are still ongoing because “we are still hoping that there are still some people who are trapped but very much alive.
Siyempre, wag naman tayo mawalan ng pag-asa (We shouldn’t lose hope)." According to the governor, there are about 300 evacuees in the province, not counting those who have gone to live with their relatives. The next step, he said, was to find a permanent home for residents who have been extremely affected by the landslides. “
May bilin si kagalang-galang na Pangulo kahapon na dapat i-permanently relocate
na yan. So ito yung magiging final solution (President Arroyo has ordered yesterday that they should be permanently relocated. That will be the final solution)," Gov. Fongwan said. The governor also said that prices of food in northern Benguet are getting expensive due to dwindling supplies, but hopes that the reopening of Kennon Road will allow products to finally come in. As of 6 a.m. Monday, the National Disaster Coordinating Council’s (NDCC) pegged the death toll due to typhoon Pepeng at 137 in the Cordillera Administrative Region where Benguet province belongs. Based on the local officials' tally, however, the NDCC figure is obviously lagging behind.
- GMANews.TV 
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