Negrenses join rescue work
but hope for survivors dim
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The search for hundreds of residents of Guinsaugon village in St. Bernard town, Southern Leyte, buried by a massive landslide Friday will be long and difficult, and we can only hope we will find some of the missing alive, Jose Antonio Mabayag, head of the Philippine National Red Cross rescue team from Negros Occidental who is now in the area, said yesterday.

Mabayag said he and his teammates are part of about 1,000 rescuers from around the country who have been joined by the US Marines, Taiwanese with thermal detection equipment, and Malaysian Red Crescent volunteers. Japan is also providing emergency relief goods.

Miners, who brought along equipment and generators, have also joined the rescue operations, Mabayag said.

City creates Task Force St. Bernard
BY DONALYN GUERRERO

Bacolod City police director, Senior Supt. Pedro Merced, will give awards and certificates to five Bacolod police personnel, individuals and organizations at the BCPO headquarters at about 8:30 a.m. today, in line with the celebration of the 15th Philippine National Police anniversary.

PNP Regional director Doroteo Reyes and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia will be the guest speakers at the recognition and awarding ceremony.

Chief Insp. Jimmy Fortaleza will receive a plaque of recognition for making Police Precinct 1 the best police precinct in 2005, Senior Insp. Ulysses Ortiz, Police Precinct 4 commander - Best Police Commission Officer; SPO4 Ernesto Gonzales, chief of the City Anti-Drug Special Operation Task Group - Best Police Non-Commission Officer; Te Gary Villacis - Best Traffic Enforcer; Nelia Ruiz - Best Civilian Employee.

Relatives face agonizing wait

GUINSAUGON -- Elsa Timbang gazed across a river at a mountain of mud which was once her home village and burst into tears.

She had been working for 10 years as a nanny in Britain but rushed home after global news networks reported the massive landslide which swallowed the hamlet of Guinsaugon in Southern Leyte.

Timbang clung to hope that her parents and relatives were still alive after more than two days under tonnes of mud and rocks.