MANILA, Philippines—The Armed Forces in Metro Manila are placed on blue alert as the storm-battered Luzon braces for Typhoon Santi (international name: Mirinae), which is expected to make landfall Saturday, a military spokesman said.
Captain Michael Aquino, spokesman of the National Capital Region Command (NCRCom), said a total of 1,231 enlisted men and 113 officers are on standby as government forecasters warned Metro Manila was likely to get more rain, potentially exacerbating the woes for more than one million people still living in flooded districts.
Although the Philippine National Police remains the main security agency tasked to oversee the peaceful commemoration of All Souls’ Day in Metro Manila, the military has the Rapid Deployment Forces ready to augment police forces if necessary, Aquino said.
The other major service commands of the military like the Philippine Army, Navy and Air Force are also on standby, Aquino said.
“We have to be ready for any eventuality,” Aquino said.
Typhoon Santi, already packing maximum sustained winds of up to 150 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 185 kph, was expected to become stronger before it slams into Aurora province Saturday afternoon, the state weather bureau Pagasa said.
"We should expect (Santi) to become a very intense typhoon in the next several hours or days," Pagasa spokesman Nathaniel Cruz said on local television.
Santi’s expected arrival comes as Luzon is still trying to recover from two devastating storms that claimed more than 1,000 lives.
Parts of Manila remain flooded after Tropical Storm Ondoy (international codename: Ketsana) dumped the heaviest rains in more than four decades on the nation's capital on September 26.
Typhoon Pepeng (Parma) arrived exactly one week later, then hovered over northern Luzon as a tropical storm for nearly 10 days, causing massive flooding and triggering deadly landslides.
Cruz warned that Manila was likely to get more rain, potentially exacerbating the woes for more than one million people still living in flooded districts.
"If and when (Santi) will cross northern or central Luzon, definitely Metro Manila will be affected by strong winds and rains associated with it," Cruz said.
The rain also threatens to cause havoc for millions of Filipinos living in cities who are expected to return to their home provinces at the weekend to honor their dead during All Souls’ Day on Monday, which is a public holiday.
Aquino said the military’s major service commands have readied rescue equipment like rubber boats and other engineering heavy equipment such as trucks and bulldozers in case rescue efforts are needed.
He said Task Units, composed of seven to 14 soldiers, are also ready to be deployed in flood-prone areas like Pateros, Marikina and the Camanava area. With Agence France-Presse
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