Duterte asks Cabinet officials to visit provinces along ‘Ompong’ path

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday ordered Cabinet officials to personally check on the provinces directly in the path of Typhoon “Ompong.”

Duterte even singled out Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello to go to their hometown provinces Isabela and Cagayan which are among the expected areas to be pummelled by the typhoon.

Duterte issued the order during the command conference with weather, disaster, and other government officials at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) operations center in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

“Anything could go wrong outside of the projection… the best way to preposition, the most accurate way of finding out ano talaga ang nangyari is for Tugade, who is from Cagayan, and Bello, come from Isabela to go home by now and watch their own province,” he said.

Duterte also tapped Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Presidential Political Adviser Francis Tolentino, and NDRRMC Executive Director Ricardo Jalad to go to typhoon-affected places.

Earlier, Jalad told Duterte that around 4.3 million Filipinos across the regions of Cordillera and Regions I to III are expected to be affected by Ompong. He added that 1.20 million of those people are from Cagayan, where Ompong is expected to make landfall on Saturday morning, while 1.9 million of them are from Isabela. /je