Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 23, 1990 TAG: 9007230196
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BAGUIO, PHILIPPINES LENGTH: Medium
In Manila, President Corazon Aquino urged Congress to approve a $500 million relief package to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by last Monday's quake, which measured 7.7 on the Richter scale.
Aquino made the call in a 55-minute state of the nation speech that television commentators said was surprisingly lackluster.
Also today, Rep. Rolando Andaya, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said he would pursue proposals to suspend debt payments for two years to free funds to rebuild.
Aquino has warned that any unilateral reduction in debt payments could worsen the country's economic plight by prompting international lenders to reduce the flow of new money.
In Baguio, the search for survivors shifted to the task of recovering the dead. British and other foreign experts declared there were no signs of life in any of the nearly 30 buildings devastated by the temblor. Official figures put the death toll at 1,055, but it was expected to rise.
More than 200 bodies are believed still buried in rubble.
Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos, chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, said more than 3,000 people were severely injured in the quake and more than 700 were missing. Ramos said nearly 90,000 people were homeless.
British volunteers abandoned the search for survivors after failing to find signs of life in the Hyatt Hotel, the last area of Baguio where experts believed there might still be survivors of the quake.
Hopes that some people were still alive at the Hyatt faded after rescuers no longer heard tapping sounds on walls near the hotel basement. Rescuers said the last of the survivors probably died after aftershocks shifted the rubble, either crushing them or depriving them of air.
More aftershocks jolted Baguio today, including one about 9:45 a.m. that sent hundreds of people fleeing into the streets. Many Baguio residents have been sleeping outdoors since the quake.
On Sunday, one of Aquino's Cabinet members acknowledged that his construction firm built the Baguio Hyatt 15 years ago, but he refused to comment on allegations by a prominent civil engineer that the building was structurally unsound.
"There are many factors to consider before you can pinpoint where the fault lies," said Fiorello Estuar, secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Last week, Octavio Kalalo, former president of the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines, said he inspected the Hyatt in 1985 and warned that the building could suffer serious damage in an earthquake because it was structurally unsound. But he said the warning went unheeded.
In Manila, Justice Secretary Franklin Drilon said he would launch an investigation into possible criminal liability of builders and owners of buildings that collapsed here and in Cabanatuan during the quake.
by CNB