President Benigno Aquino checks the condition of displaced residents affected by floods due to heavy downpour spawned by Tropical Storm Falcon in an evacuation center in Nangka Elementary School, Marikina City Saturday. Malacanang Photo
MANILA, Philippines—It was as if the heavens welcomed the highest official of the land.
Only minutes before President Benigno Aquino arrived at the shoe capital of the Philippines to personally check on the measures taken by the local government in the face of heavy flooding in the city, what had been for hours ominous dark skies suddenly opened up and unleashed a torrent of rain, recounted some evacuees.
Then the rain quickly stopped.
Aquino’s visit to one of the most badly hit barangays in Marikina on Saturday was brief, but it showed that he was more than contented with the efforts the local government had exerted to ensure the safety of its constituents.
Security was strict, a part of the evacuation center where the President was briefed by Mayor Del de Guzman himself was cordoned off even to media.
After the briefing, Aquino proceeded to distribute relief goods in plastic bags.
And then, just as quickly as the rain, he left.
Fearing a repeat of the disaster wrought by Tropical Storm Ondoy in 2009, Mayor Del de Guzman said that residents from various places continued to stream into the 15 designated evacuation centers throughout the city—Barangay Nangka included—even though their areas had not been badly hit by the flooding.
He said that as of Saturday, only some 10 percent of the entire city was submerged in floods.
“But the people left (their houses) even though it wasn’t flooded yet in their areas. That’s why the number of evacuees has increased,” De Guzman said in a radio interview earlier.
As of 9 a.m. Saturday, 25,174 evacuees had been registered in the city. On Friday, around 7,000 people left their homes as water levels at the Marikina river breached the critical level of 17 meters.
Although conditions at the evacuation centers were “ok,” the mayor said that there was a “short delay” in the delivery of relief goods because of the number of evacuees coming in.
City social welfare workers had been making rounds at the centers to ensure that relief goods are distributed to all the evacuees.
On Friday night, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Francis Tolentino inspected flood-prone areas in Marikina and promised to extend the necessary assistance should it be needed.
“Private and non-government organizations have also expressed their willingness to help,” De Guzman said.