Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas campaigns in Leyte. JULLIANE LOVE DE JESUS/INQUIRER.net
PALO, Leyte, Philippines — Campaigning in this town badly hit by supertyphoon Yolanda, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas reiterated that the government did everything it could to prepare for the storm.
He also admitted that despite the preparations, more than 6,000 died when Yolanda pummeled Western Visayas in November 2013.
Roxas spoke before 3,000 Leyteños who survived the typhoon, and are now supporting the administration ticket for the elections.
READ: Roxas, Robredo campaign in Yolanda-stricken towns of Leyte | Roxas accused of using aid-giving to campaign for 2016
“Dumating kami dito bago dumating si Yolanda, ginawa lahat para paghandaan. Pero lahat ng ginawa namin kulang pa rin dahil sa tindi ng Yolanda,” said Roxas in his speech at the Leyte Academic Gym in Palo town on Wednesday morning.
“May mga dapat bang nagawa na? Oo. Pero gusto ko ring paratingin sa inyo, lahat ng maaring magawa, lahat ng maaring ikinilos ay ikinilos at ginawa namin nang walang pagpapabaya at pagbabalewala ang iyong pamahalaang nasyunal,” Roxas said.
“Matitignan ko po kayo mata sa mata, face to face, ginawa ko ang lahat para malutas ang problema niyo noong Yolanda.”
Roxas stressed the government already released P89 billion for the rehabilitation of Yolanda-hit towns and cities.
“‘Yan ang katotohanan sa kabila ng mga kasinungalingan na kinakalat tungkol dito sa Yolanda,” he said, drawing applauses from the crowd.
He then recounted the horrors of Yolanda on the day it struck Leyte province, how he and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin sought refuge in Leyte Park at the height of the storm.
Roxas also recalled the aftermath when they discovered that most of Tacloban policemen could not join them in rescue efforts because even the lawmen and their families were victims of the typhoon.
Roxas is being criticized by his rivals mainly for his alleged mishandling of the Yolanda rehabilitation, which they say exposes his failure as a leader.
But the administration bet urged the Leyteños not to be swayed by the lies his rivals are spreading.
“Kaya nakikiusap po ako sa inyo wag po kayong maniwala sa mga paninira ngayong eleksyon,” he said.
Roxas assured the typhoon survivors that he would not abandon them.
“Bago dumating ang unos, habang may unos, pagkatapos ng unos, andito si Mar Roxas para sa inyo,” he said.
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