Bad weather halts Duterte visit in Marawi

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. KARL NORMAN ALONZO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

President Rodrigo Duterte cancelled his Marawi trip on Wednesday afternoon due to bad weather.

“I wanted to go to Marawi pero nasarhan kami. We really have to go up,” he said in a televised press briefing in Lanao del Sur, citing the presidential chopper wasn’t able to enter Marawi City.

The President instead flew to Tubod, Lanao del Norte, which was ravaged by Severe Tropical Storm Vinta on Friday.

Duterte was to turn over some 500 temporary shelters in Barangay Sagonsongan in Marawi City to families affected by the five-month war there.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque earlier told reporters during a press briefing at the provincial capitol of Marawi the President will hand over the completed housing units located in Sagonsongan village in Marawi before 4 p.m.

“This is only the first temporary units that we will be transferring as promised to the people of Marawi,” he said.

Roque said the housing units the President were to turn over have such amenities as electricity and water.

Marawi Mayor Majul Gandamra said some 98,000 families, which had returned home after the military allowed resettlement in areas outside of the main battle area, were not among the beneficiaries of the housing units.

He said its either some of those who have returned did not totally lost their properties from the war or their villages were largely untouched in the violence that flared up on May 23. /jpv