‘Tino’ toll rises to 204; 109 missing, 156 injured
Typhoon “Tino” (international name: Kalmaegi) has left at least 204 people dead, 109 missing and 156 injured across the Visayas and parts of Mindanao, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported on Saturday.
Based on the OCD data provided by deputy spokesperson Diego Mariano, Cebu was the hardest-hit province, with 141 deaths, 57 missing and 123 injured.
Negros Occidental also reported 27 deaths, 42 missing and 28 injured, while Negros Oriental had 20 deaths and 10 missing.
Other provinces also recorded casualties, including Antique (1 dead), Capiz (3 dead), Iloilo (1 dead), Guimaras (1 dead), Bohol (1 dead), Leyte (1 dead, 2 injured), Southern Leyte (2 dead), Agusan del Sur (6 dead), Surigao del Norte (2 injured) and Surigao del Sur (1 injured).
Authorities said earlier that rescue and relief operations are ongoing in the affected areas.
Typhoon Tino struck the central Philippines earlier this week, bringing heavy rains and strong winds that caused widespread flooding. Local governments are coordinating with national agencies to provide food, water, medical aid and temporary shelter to affected communities.
ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, who revealed that three Visayas provinces had 115 unprogrammed appropriations (UA)-funded flood control projects worth at least P9.2 billion from 2023 to 2024, and which still failed to protect residents from the deadly flash floods brought by Tino’s onslaught.
“UA is a slush fund for corruption, responsible for deaths and devastation in Cebu and other areas hit by Typhoon Tino. Billions were supposedly spent, yet communities were left defenseless,” Tinio said.
Citing data from the Department of Budget and Management submitted to his office, Tinio said Cebu accounted for the bulk of the funding with 102 projects worth P8.43 billion over two years.
A closer look at the numbers sent to the Inquirer showed that the bulk of these projects (90) were under the Department of Public Works and Highways’ Sustainable Infrastructure Projects Alleviating Gaps (Sipag) program, worth over P7.3 billion.
For the Cebu projects, Tinio noted that all 102 projects “lacked even basic details. This is corruption by design. How can the public verify a project with no specifications?”
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental had 10 projects worth P630 million in the same time period: two projects worth P60 million in 2023 and eight projects worth P570 million in 2024.
Negros Oriental meanwhile, had two projects worth P45 million in 2023 and one project worth P100 million in 2024. Like Cebu, the projects for these provinces were under the CSSP-Sipag budget line.
All three provinces were among the hardest hit by Tino, which battered through the Visayas and parts of Southern Luzon and Northern Mindanao in the past week.
Before exiting the Philippine area of responsibility on Thursday, Tino made landfall eight times and devastated many parts of the Visayas and Mindanao.
