Malacañang: You can’t prevent casualties

THE DAY AFTER. MMDA personnel use a crane to clean Manila Bay of debris that were washed ashore by strong waves spawned by Typhoon “Pedring” Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011. ERWIN AGUILON/Radyo Inquirer 990AM

There will be casualties despite adequate preparations and a zero-casualty policy in dealing with weather disturbances, Malacañang said Wednesday.

Undersecretary Abigail Valte, President Benigno Aquino III’s deputy spokesperson, said what the government could do in instances such as the onslaught of Typhoon “Pedring” on Tuesday was to ensure the safety and security of Filipinos as much as it could.

Valte made the remarks when asked if there was a failure in the government’s response to the typhoon given the official death toll of 21.

“There are those who ask us why ‘zero casualty’ is often the policy of the Aquino government… This is really what we call force majeure. Even if there are preparations, there really would be [casualties],” Valte said at a news briefing.

“What the government can do is to ensure as much as we can, according to our capabilities, the security of those people who are in the path of, and who would be affected by, these types of calamities,” she said.

88 evacuation centers in Metro

Valte said that as of Wednesday, the government had allocated food and nonfood items for the provinces of Cagayan, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Batangas and Isabela.

She said 88 evacuation centers were providing shelter to more than 7,000 families (or more than 30,000 persons) in Metro Manila.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided P612,000 worth of relief assistance to affected local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila, she said.

In Cagayan Valley, 11 evacuation centers are serving 216 families (or 881 persons), Valte said. The DSWD in the region has received P950,000 worth of augmentation assistance to the LGUs, she said.

Valte said the DSWD had set up 28 evacuation centers serving more than 1,000 families in Central Luzon, and 30 evacuation centers serving 2,471 families in the Bicol region.

She said more than 13,000 families had taken temporary shelter and subsequently gone home.

Rebuke

At a press conference, Zambales Representative Milagros Magsaysay said Malacañang spokespersons were habitual late-risers especially during typhoons when students and government workers needed early confirmation on the suspension of classes and work.

“I would like to request the spokespersons, or those who make the decision, to make themselves available as early as 5 a.m. so that students and government workers would know while they are still at home whether schools or government offices would be open for the day,” the opposition lawmaker said.

She said the Palace would too often make the announcement when students and government workers were already in transit to their schools or offices. With a report from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.