Floods covering large parts of Manila have brought a new intruder?a crocodile, which was seen swimming in a village in Cainta, Rizal, local television reported Wednesday.
Top broadcaster ABS-CBN quoted local residents as saying that they spotted the five-foot long crocodile late Monday as they made their way through flooded streets of the town.
Resident Michael Lambert said he and his friends saw a floating object which they thought might be a tire.
?It was pitch black. There was no electricity or whatever. But we had a flashlight. We trained our flashlight on the thing and saw that it was a crocodile,? Lambert told the television station.
The group took refuge on a mound of soil and Lambert took a picture which he posted on his Facebook page. It shows a partially submerged object that resembles a crocodile floating beside some houses.
Lambert suggested that the animal may have escaped from a zoo during the floods unleashed when Tropical Storm ?Ondoy? (international codename: Ketsana) hit the country on Saturday.
However, some officials said it may have simply been washed out of a nearby swamp by the floods.
ABS-CBN quoted local police as confirming that a crocodile was roaming Cainta but gave no details. Crocodiles are indigenous to the Philippines but are rarely seen near inhabited areas.