Duterte to oversee relief work in areas hardest hit by typhoon

A Filipino government worker picks up pieces from a structure destroyed by strong winds from Typhoon Mangkhut as it barreled across Tuguegarao city in Cagayan province, northeastern Philippines on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018. The typhoon slammed into the Philippines northeastern coast early Saturday, it’s ferocious winds and blinding rain ripping off tin roof sheets and knocking out power, and plowed through the agricultural region at the start of the onslaught. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

President Rodrigo Duterte will fly to the areas hardest hit by Typhoon “Ompong” (international name: Mangkhut)in northern Luzon to supervise disaster relief operations as soon as the weather clears up, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said on Saturday.

The President, who is in Davao City “monitoring the typhoon,” is expected to visit the devastated areas in the company of the Cabinet secretaries he had tasked with heading relief efforts in the provinces in the path of the typhoon.

In a separate statement, Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go said the President had been receiving continuous updates on the situation in the country’s northern provinces on Saturday.

With the President in Davao City, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque represented him at a briefing in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City where Cabinet, civil defense and social welfare officials updated the nation on the government’s relief operations.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and political adviser Francis Tolentino were in Cagayan and Isabela, the two provinces heavily devastated by Ompong, and spoke with Roque through phone patch.

Better prepared

Tolentino said that unlike in 2013, when Supertyphoon “Yolanda” ravaged eastern Visayas, the country was better prepared this time in terms of evacuating and informing high-risk communities.

“I talked to the President last night. His clear and concise marching order was ‘Save lives, save lives,’” said Tolentino, the Duterte Cabinet’s disaster response coordinator.

Renato Solidum Jr., the undersecretary for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, said people in northern Luzon experienced a supertyphoon in 2016 and were not caught off guard.

“There has been an aggressive information dissemination to prepare well,” he said.

“Because the people had experienced a supertyphoon only recently, they really had imagination about what happened before and they really need to be prepared,” he added.

Health Secretary Franciso Duque III said P39 million worth of medicines had been prepared in the central office should regional offices request augmentation after the typhoon.

Of the figure, P3.9 million worth of medicines had already been sent to Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon, along with health emergency response teams. Pagasa weather forecaster Ariel Rojas, in a briefing on Saturday evening, said it may take until Monday to see improved weather conditions nationwide. —With a report from the wires