Robredo arrives in Cagayan, Isabela ahead of Duterte

MUCH NEEDED HELP Vice President Leni Robredo hands relief goods to typhoon victims in Isabela province. —PHOTO COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

Vice President Leni Robredo went around Cagayan and Isabela on Sunday morning to survey the extent of the damage wrought by Typhoon Ulysses (international name: Vamco) in both provinces due to what local government officials considered to be the worst flooding they had experienced in more than four decades.

In Cagayan, Robredo said the flooding “was no longer as bad as we had seen in the earlier photos, as the water had receded a bit.”

Asked to comment on President Rodrigo Duterte’s arrival in Cagayan shortly after she did, Robredo said that it was not “a race.”

“What’s more important is that we are somewhat spread out, not just the President but other government officials. I think that in incidents like this, [our presence] really helps in boosting [residents’] morale and giving them hope,” she stressed.

The Vice President was the first national government official to land in flood-ravaged Cagayan Valley region, around 48 hours after the first reports of calls for help from residents stranded on the roofs of their houses reached Metro Manila.

Her first stop was at evacuation centers in Tuguegarao City, where the destruction was reportedly the worst. Some townsfolk told Robredo that the floodwater in some areas had reached as high as 5 meters.

The people who were able to evacuate the earliest, she noted, came from communities that were used to floods. But those left behind “were really taken by surprise by the strength of Ulysses and the swiftness by which the floodwater rose, so they were not able to evacuate.”

While the floodwaters had receded, the towns of Alcala and Allacapan remained impassable. “We left a team to conduct relief operations but they couldn’t pass through, so they would look for another way to enter as there were reports that the devastation there is extreme,” Robredo said.

Another team was also left behind in Ilagan City, Isabela, to help in the relief operations with some municipalities still unreachable due to floodwater, she added.