MANILA- Vice President Leni Robredo visited a landslide-hit town in Camarines Sur on Wednesday to check on search and retrieval operations there.

Robredo, a former Camarines Sur congresswoman, distributed relief goods and financial aid to victims of the landslide in the mountainside town of Sagñay.

"Handa kaming tumulong. Kailangan natin intindihin ang kalagayan nila ngayon," she told reporters.

(We are prepared to help. We need to understand their situation right now.)

Rains brought by tropical depression Usman triggered a landslide in Barangay Patitinan, Sagñay last Dec. 29.

Authorities have recovered 30 bodies and were no longer hoping to pull out survivors, the municipal disaster office said Wednesday.

Due to flooding and rains in the Bicol region, the provinces of
Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, and Albay were placed under a state of calamity.

• Search resumes in landslide-hit Camarines Sur town as more rains seen

Robredo said the landslide should serve as a lesson for the local and national governments in building infrastructure.

"Hindi ito kaya ng LGU (local government unit) lamang, kailangan talaga ng tulong ng national government dahil malaki ang pera na kailangan," she added.

(The LGU cannot do this alone. The help of the national government is necessary since huge funding is needed.)

• Usman death toll rises as authorities turn to isolated areas