At least 126 dead and missing in massive flooding and landslides in Philippines

TALISAY, Philippines (AP) — The number of dead and missing in massive flooding and landslides wrought by Tropical Storm Trami in the Philippines has reached nearly 130 and the president said Saturday that many areas remained isolated with people in need of rescue.

Trami blew away from the northwestern Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 85 people dead and 41 others missing in in one of the Southeast Asian archipelago’s deadliest and most destructive storms so far this year, the government’s disaster-response agency said. The death toll was expected to rise as reports come in from previously isolated areas.

Dozens of police, firefighters and other emergency personnel, backed by three backhoes and sniffer dogs, dug up one of the last two missing villagers in the lakeside town of Talisay in Batangas province Saturday.

A father, who was waiting for word on his missing 14-year-old daughter, wept as rescuers placed the remains in a black body bag. Distraught, he followed police officers, who carried the body bag down a mud-strewn village alley to a police van when one weeping resident approaching him to express her sympathies.

The man said he was sure it was his daughter, but authorities needed to do checks to confirm the identity of the villager dug up in the mound.

In a nearby basketball gym at the town center, more than a dozen white coffins were laid side by side, bearing the remains of those found in the heaps of mud, boulders and trees that cascaded Thursday afternoon down the steep slope of a wooded ridge in Talisay's Sampaloc village.

President Ferdinand Marcos, who inspected another hard-hit region southeast of Manila Saturday, said the unusually large volume of rainfall dumped by the storm — including in some areas that saw one to two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours — overwhelmed flood controls in provinces lashed by Trami.

"The water was just too much,” Marcos told reporters.

“We’re not done yet with our rescue work,” he said. “Our problem here, there are still many areas that remained flooded and could not be accessed even big trucks."

His administration, Marcos said, would plan to start work on a major flood control project that can meet the unprecedented threats posed by climate change.

More than 5 million people were in the path of the storm, including nearly half a million who mostly fled to more than 6,300 emergency shelters in several provinces, the government agency said.

In an emergency Cabinet meeting, Marcos raised concerns over reports by government forecasters that the storm — the 11th to hit the Philippines this year — could make a U-turn next week as it is pushed back by high-pressure winds in the South China Sea.

The storm was forecast to batter Vietnam over the weekend if it would not veer off course.

The Philippine government shut down schools and government offices for the third day on Friday to keep millions of people safe on the main northern island of Luzon. Inter-island ferry services were also suspended, stranding thousands.

Weather has cleared in many areas on Saturday, allowing cleanup work in most areas.

Each year, about 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines, a Southeast Asian archipelago which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and flattened entire villages.

Villagers gather to pay respects to family and friends who died after a landslide hit their homes triggered by Tropical Storm Trami, in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Marcelino Aringo speaks near his damaged house after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck homes, leaving several villagers dead in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A resident uses shovels as they clean out mud from their house after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck homes in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Family and their friend grieve as they watch over their loved ones at a basketball court where the coffins of landslide victims were placed after Tropical Storm Trami recently struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Rescuers search for bodies after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck homes in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A rabbit doll sits on a mud-covered sofa after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck homes in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A resident cleans out mud from his damaged home as it was struck by a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Rescuers carry a body after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck homes in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jim Gomez)

A man sits on a damaged car after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Villagers gather to pay respect to family and friends who died after a landslide hit their homes triggered by Tropical Storm Trami, in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Rescuers carry a body during retrieval operations after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami, struck homes in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jim Gomez)

Kervin Torres grieves while rescuers recovered a body under the rubbles of a landslide after Tropical Storm Trami recently struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Residents clear out mud from their homes after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami recently struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Residents try to clear out mud from their belongings after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami recently struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Residents ride motorcycles along a mud covered road after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami, recently struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024 . (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A resident passes by toppled trees after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami recently struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A villager pays respect to family and friends after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami recently struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Marcelino Aringo stands on top of a damaged house after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami recently struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024 . (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Residents try to recover personal belongings from their damaged home after a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami recently struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A yearslong process to reform the Catholic Church closes Saturday with recommendations that are expected to fall far short of hopes that women would be given more equity but that reflect the pope’s aims for a church that at least listens more to its flock.

The Vatican’s top doctrinal officer, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, told the extraordinary assembly of bishops and laypeople this week that Pope Francis said the moment for allowing ordination of women as deacons in the church “is not ripe.”

The multi-year synod process had sparked great hopes for change, especially for women, who have long complained that they are treated as second-class citizens in the church. Women are barred from the priesthood and the highest ministerial positions in the Catholic Church, yet do the lion’s share of the work running Catholic hospitals and schools and passing the faith onto future generations.

Speaking to the synod on Thursday, Fernandez explained that a special working group would continue beyond the closing of the meeting, but that its focus would be on discussing the role of women in the church — not in the diaconate. He added that while working with women in previous pastoral roles, “most did not ask for or want the diaconate, which would be cumbersome for their lay work.”

He did not respond directly to a request to define what would determine “ripeness” for a greater role for women.

The outcome is shaping up to be a disappointment for Catholics who have been campaigning for recognition that women share a spiritual calling that is no different than a man’s. They also noted that despite the inclusion of women in the synodal process, the working group that is guiding discussions on women’s role is being run by the Roman curia, operating outside the synod.

“I think it is very clear that ordained men get to decide when the time is right, and they get to decide what baptismal equality amounts to. It is very frustrating, but they laid it all out,’’ said Kate McElwee, the executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference.

The first phase of the synod process ended last year by concluding it was “urgent” to guarantee fuller participation by women in church governance positions, and calling for theological and pastoral research to continue about allowing women to be deacons.

Deacons perform many of the same functions as priests, such as presiding over baptisms, weddings and funerals, but they cannot celebrate Mass.

If before the synod the idea of allowing women to be deacons was a fringe proposal pushed by Western progressives, the idea gained attention during the debate. It became something of a litmus test of how far the church was going to go, or not, to address demands of women for greater equality and representation in the highest ranks of the church.

Francis, though, had other ideas, insisting that ordaining women would just “clericalize” them and that there were plenty of other ways to empower women in the church, even leading Catholic communities, without resorting to ordination.

Advocates say allowing women to be deacons would help offset the shortage of Catholic priests and address longstanding complaints about their second-class status.

Opponents say ordaining women to the deaconate would signal the start of a slippery slope toward ordaining women to the priesthood. The Catholic Church reserves the priesthood for men.

Francis has repeatedly reaffirmed the all-male priesthood and has sharply criticized “obtuse” agitators pressing for a female diaconate.

Pope Francis attends the works of the second session of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the Paul VI hall, at the Vatican, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)