Duterte 'very, very satisfied' with gov't response to 'Ompong'
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte was "very very satisfied" with the government's response to Typhoon Ompong, which battered the country's northern provinces and left dozens of people dead, Malacañang said Sunday.
The cyclone, which left the Philippine area of responsibility Saturday night, has left at least 29 people dead, most of them from the Cordillera region, according to latest government reports.
About 5.7 million people have been affected by the typhoon, the strongest to hit the disaster-prone country this year, according to presidential political affairs adviser Francis Tolentino, Duterte's conduit for the preparation and response efforts.
Tolentino said all agencies and local government units have demonstrated readiness to respond to the typhoon. He said some people died because of "selective compliance" with the government's call for them to leave hazardous areas.
Duterte condoled with the families of the typhoon fatalities but said he was pleased with Tolentino's report.
"I share the grief of those who lost their loved ones, those are what we call the unforeseen events. In insurance this is an act of God. I don't know how it can be an act of God but that is the term used by the insurance (industry). It's good that we had time to meet...(That's the) advantage of being here right from the start," the president said.
"For one moment, I did not doubt your presence here...I told you to come home so we can face the problem together and I'll go there as fast as I can. I am very pleased with the report," he added.
Asked if the president was satisfied with the way the government responded to the typhoon, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said: "Very very satisfied. So far zero casualty in Region 2."
Tolentino described the typhoon preparations as "very good." He said the government forces did what they could to persuade people from
Duterte conducted an aerial inspection of typhoon-hit areas in Cagayan yesterday before meeting with state agencies and local governments in Tuguegarao City. He said the impact of "Ompong" was not as severe as expected.
"We thank God na ito lang ang inabot natin (we only experienced this much). Not so severe as we expected it to be because earlier, it was touted to be strong so it got everybody worried," the President said.
"And I think I made the right decision when I called for a tete-a-tete, very informal, it was a time that I said the Cabinet members should be here, especially those in their provinces. So I started to joke with (transportation) Secretary (Arthur) Tugade who was from here and Bebot because the typhoon was plotted to pass by Isabela, and the others."
Duterte had asked Tugade and labor secretary to go to their respective home provinces in the north to oversee the situation in the typhoon-hit areas.
Tolentino said agencies would end on Monday the search and rescue operations and begin with the rehabilitation of the typhoon-ravaged provinces.
"Government forces did what they can do to request, force the evacuation of constituents," Tolentino said.
"We are requesting local government units to declare their individual state of calamity. That will trigger the freezing of the prices of goods," he added.
Duterte thanked the military, the police and volunteers who joined the evacuation of civilians.
"I could only offer my snappy salute and gratitude (to you) for being here," the president said.
During the meeting, Duterte issued instructions to some government agencies to enable them to respond immediately to the needs of people affected by the typhoon.
He instructed the transportation department to acquire three to four x-rays to prevent "aberration" in airports that cause inconvenience to passengers. He also ordered the public works department to come up with gym-like structures that would accommodate evacuees to avoid disrupting the classes of students whose classrooms are often used as evacuation centers.
"If you have about ten of that, it would go a long way to alleviate the suffering of the people," the president said.
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