Volunteers of the Metro Manila council rescue and development agency remove debris from what used to be a fruit and fish market at the eastern Samar town of Guiuan yesterday.
MANILA: The cost of rebuilding houses, schools, roads and bridges in typhoon-devastated central Philippines could reach P250bn ($5.8bn), making it likely that the government will seek cheap loans from development agencies, a senior official said yesterday.
If the government is successful in deploying resources for post-typhoon reconstruction, the economy may even grow faster, said Arsenio Balisacan, economic planning secretary, adding the country’s strong economic fundamentals remained intact.
“I would not be surprised if it can go as high as P250bn,” Balisacan said, commenting on the likely cost of reconstruction.
Meanwhile, more than 103 prisoners are on the loose after escaping from Tacloban City Jail when a super typhoon devastated the central Philippines, flooded the prison and smashed open the main gate.
The prisoners had been freed from their cells so that they could seek higher ground, but while some rode the water to the safety of the warden’s second floor office, others followed the water out the front door.
“They swam through,” the jail’s warden, Joseph Nunez, said as he pointed to the palm of his hand onto which he had jotted down his challenge: 676 inmates before the typhoon hit, 559 at present and 117 at large.
“We are still missing 117.”
That number had come down to 103 by late yesterday as some inmates turned themselves in and a team of correction officers, armed with M16 rifles and 9mm handguns, hunted down a handful of others on the streets.
The prison houses inmates charged with offences from burglary and drug dealing to violent crimes such as rape and murder.
Nunez acknowledged that some of the fugitives could be dangerous; adding to the sense of unease faced by Tacloban residents, although overall security has improved over the past few days as food and other aid has flowed in.
Nunez said he had issued no shoot-to-kill orders and would not penalise prisoners who returned of their own accord.
He said many inmates had fled to help their families survive the storm.
Joey Gerona Taborada was one inmate who turned himself in yesterday, returning to Cell 8 which he shared with 20 other prisoners.
The 35-year-old said he decided to go back after ensuring the safety of his family and repairing his house.
He said he never once thought of running, even though he had been held for eight years on a drug charge without conviction.
In a related matter, the body of a six-year-old British boy was among around 1,000 corpses at a mass grave in the typhoon-ravaged Philippines, his mother said yesterday.
Nurse Mary Joy Escalante Ducusin, who also lost her husband in the disaster, sobbed bitterly as she discovered the bag bearing his tiny corpse waiting to be put into the pit in a cemetery above the badly-hit city of Tacloban.
Agencies
