Duterte to fly to Albay, ash or no ash

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

DAVAO CITY — President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said he would fly to Albay province in a day or two to see for himself the plight of tens of thousands of residents displaced by Mount Mayon’s eruption.

Still nursing a migraine after his long flight from New Delhi, where he attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-India Commemorative Summit, Mr. Duterte tried to make light of the situation in Albay.

He said it did not matter if Mayon continue to erupt “as long as everybody has complied with the safety zones and nobody is near enough to get hurt.”

“I’m just joking … so the pain from my migraine would go away,” he quickly added.

He would decide on Sunday when to visit Albay. “I’ll probably take a rest for a day or two first … but I will go to Mayon,” he said.

The President said he expected his plane to have difficulty landing in Legazpi City, about 5 kilometers south of Mayon.

“(It’s not) the (ashfall) there, but  the wind current that you have to worry about because it will bring the ash to you, wherever you are,” he said, adding he would listen to the advice of experts before making the trip.

“If it’s safe to go there, or even if it’s not, you give me the space to land. If I am cleared, I will go there in about one or two days,” he added.

Mr. Duterte said the national government had already sent financial assistance to Albay.

“We have the money. I don’t know but to my recollection, it was (sent to Albay) the day before … I’d like to assure Governor (Francis) Bichara, the money had been sent,” he said. —ALLAN NAWAL