BACOLOD City – Heavy rains, strong winds and floods left three persons dead in Negros Occidental.
In this city’s Barangay Singcang-Airport, authorities recovered the body of 32-year-old Victor Moreno Jr. in Purok Sigay around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, July 25.
He was an avid river angler, according to Police Captain Melvin Mercado, Police Station 8 commander, citing witness accounts.
Moreno sustained a wound on his head; he may have hit his head while being swept away during the flood.
In Hinigaran town, the Coast Guard Sub-Station Hinigaran recovered the remains of Arnold Billojan, a resident of the town’s Barangay Aranda.
Billohan went missing on Tuesday shortly after attending a friend’s birthday party, according to Lieutenant Junior Grade Carla Mayang, commander of Coast Guard Station Southern Negros Occidental.
He was found floating around 50 meters off the coast by a local fisherman.
Mayang said Billohan may have accidentally fallen into the river.
In the town of Murcia, residents of Purok Mary in Barangay Canlandog also found the remains of 19-year-old Richard Espinosa, a resident of Purok Monarch, floating at the river around 11 a.m. yesterday.
Police Major Marc Joeil Reclamado, Murcia municipal police chief, said Espinosa was believed to have accidentally fallen into the river while trying to lead his carabao to a safer spot.
As of yesterday, the number of Negrenses displaced by the habagat reached 32,670, data from the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office showed.
A total of 167 damaged houses were also reported in six localities, including the cities of Cadiz, Sagay, Silay, and the municipalities of San Enrique, Pontevedra and Hinoba-an. (Watchmen Daily Journal)/PN
